Falling Deep
by xRoflElz
Summary: Alexandra Hart had never expected to meet anyone like James Tiberius Kirk. Persistent, good looking and brave. A recipe for disaster, right? When they both find themselves on the USS Enterprise to answer a distress call from Vulcan, they are tested individually, as well as their growing friendship. Will they come out the other end, and who will fall too deep?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey - so this is my first ever Star Trek story, so you're going to have to bare with me on this one. I've never written a fanfic before and I have no idea where I am going with this! Hope you enjoy. I only own my OC.**

When I first entered that bar, I did not expect any of the following to happen.

"Hart, can you come help me with the drinks?" Uhura asked me, as she swanned into the bar, greeting our fellow cadets as she made her way over to her table.

"Sure," I called to my friend and roommate over the club music and people talking and getting drunk. We'd been granted a final night off from our breaks back home before we had to regroup at the shipyard in Iowa to get a shuttle back to the Academy the next morning. It was pretty obvious from our bright red uniforms that a good 80% of the bar's patrons that night were all Starfleet. Smiling to myself, Uhura and I reached the bar where she proceeded to reel off a long drinks order whilst I browsed over the bar's extensive drink menu.

"Hi, I'd like a Klabnian fire tea, three Budweiser classics, two Cardassian sunrises and a…" she trailed off as she looked over my shoulder at the menu I was holding. Smirking, I raised my eyebrows as I wondered who the hell the Cardassian sunrises were for. The barman chipped in.

"Gotta try the Slusho. It's good." Zoning out of the conversation, I leant back to survey the scene in the bar that night. Plenty of people were jammed in in the small space, crouched around tables, playing drinking games and some had even ventured onto the dance floor at this point. I spotted my friend Erikson from engineering trying to chat up another cadet I didn't recognise, but I could tell from her plain expression that she was definitely not into him. Shaking my head, I let my eyes drift back to the bar where I saw the back of a guy sat beyond another that was perched at the bar. He was wearing a leather jacket and it looked as if he was drinking alone. I thought that was strange, as almost everyone in here knew someone and was drinking and chatting away merrily to each other.

"That's a lot of drinks for one woman," I realised he addressed Uhura, to which he leant forwards to get a better view of her. Uhura made eye contact with him before I leant forwards, resting my elbows on the sticky bar in front of me. He was drunk, I knew Uhura could tell by the flatness in her voice as she replied to his remark.

"Two women, actually." I grinned to myself as his jaw dropped a little as I appeared from behind her.

"And two shots of Jack, straight up please." I asked the barman as he assembled our hefty order.

Without missing a beat, the guy spoke. "Make that three, their shots on me." Uhura shook her head, making her long, dark hair swish behind her. She picked up the tray of drinks the barman and placed in front of us a few moments previous and turned to walk back to our table.

"Good luck with that one, Hart." She winked at me before sashaying off, expertly evading drunk cadets that were stumbling around the bar. Turning back to the guy, who's eyes were trailed on Uhura's figure walking away from him, I replied.

"Not happening, homeslice," I responded to him as I handed over credits to the barman to pay our bill. His attention swung back to me as I continued to speak. "Keep your shot. You're gonna need it." I warned him as I downed one of the shots that were placed in front of me, savouring the warm burn as it slid down my throat. God, I wasn't going to feel as buzzed as this in a while when I went back to the Academy.

"Why's that?" He said as he leant across towards me, a little too close for my liking, and for the guy in between us. I could smell the alcohol on him making me grimace internally.

"None of these Starfleet girls will go home with you tonight. We're leaving tomorrow. Early. You'll just have to get really drunk instead." I explained to him over the music that was pumping out of the speakers all around us. Since that last shot, it had only seemed to get louder, and I found myself wanting to yank Uhura up out of her seat and dance with our friends on our last night of freedom.

"Oh," the man said, as he looked from the top of my head down to my shoulders. "Well don't you at least want to know my name before you completely reject me on behalf of all the women in here?" I shrugged as I picked up the final shot of Jack and swallowed it, not breaking eye contact with him.

"Jim. Jim Kirk," Jim told me, a smirk plastered on his face, which actually looked a lot prettier than I had first thought - the alcohol was burning through my blood as I suddenly felt myself tip off my level of soberness, and into a much more tipsier one. I am most definitely a lightweight. "Are you going to tell me your name?"

"My name is Alex," I answered Jim's question as I waved down the bartender. "Another shot of Jack, please."

"That's a nice name, Alex. Please, let me buy you this one." With his trademark charming grin, I caved in. "Sure, but you're buying all my friends a shot too as you've kept me from them." I raised an eyebrow at him as the bartender slid the shot down the bar at me, and then held his hand out in front of Jim.

"What? That's not the-" He sighed as he placed some credits in his hand as I raised the shot in the air, making a toast.

"To Jim, Jim Kirk." I smiled as I swallowed the shot and straightened myself up. Great. I was definitely feeling it. How was I going to explain to Uhura how I got considerably drunk in three minutes? I let my eyes settle back on him, and he was watching me, his mouth slightly open and his eyes twinkling in the lights.

"Do they not have last names in your world?" He finally found something to say. He was probably feeling just as intoxicated as I was right now and was struggling to keep up with our conversation.

"My world is the same as yours. I'm from Brooklyn," I scowled at him.

"Alex from Brooklyn. Wonderful!" He explained as he gestured to me with both of his hands. I couldn't help but let out a giggle. Unfortunately enough, he got out of his seat and wondered around the patron who we'd just had an entire conversation over to stand next to me, drink in hand. I couldn't help but marvel at how tall he was, and actually how good he smelt, despite the earlier stench of alcohol and booze washing over me.

"So, you're a cadet, you're studying. What's your focus?" As he leant his elbow on the bar, I couldn't help but notice how close he was.

"Astrophysics," I replied. He nodded, his lips curling upwards slightly. "You know what that is?" I asked.

"The study of astronomical objects in the universe that employs the principles of chemistry and physics." The words rolled of his tongue, slightly slurred. I turned to face him more directly, an impressed look all over my face. It was clear Jim knew what he was talking about. "It means that you're clever. And that cadet uniform would look better accelerating towards the floor at nine-point-eight meters per second per second."

I let my eyebrows rise, smiling ever so slightly and his cheesy attempt to get me to go home with him. "That was impressive," I looked him up and down and noticed how tight his t-shirt was underneath that leather jacket he wore. "For a moment there, I thought you were just another dumb guy who drinks himself to death and spends every night with someone else," I let out a sigh. "Turns out you're kind of a clever guy who drinks themselves to death. You surely can't pick up girls with lines like those, can you?" I questioned him, a hint of mischief glinting in my eyes and my smile.

"Well, you'd be surprised. I have a long roster, as well as other... things." He smirked at me, raising his nearly empty glass to his pink lips. Rolling my eyes, I let out a laugh.

"That's really unattractive." I smiled up at him once again, where he started to join in my laughing.

"This townie isn't bothering you, right?" One of Uhura and I's friends, Joe asked me. He was a large stocky guy, but still only a few months older than myself, and probably Jim. I waved him off.

"Unbelievably so, but don't worry. Jim Kirk here isn't anything I can't handle." I straightened out my uniform as I glanced over to Uhura, who was waving me over. I raised my pointer finger, telling her I'd be over in a minute. Jim grasped my raised hand, causing me to whip my head around to face him, an intense look on his face.

"You could handle me. That's an invitation." I let out a loud laugh as I shook my head. This guy was unbelievable, but I couldn't fault his perseverance.

"Hey, you better mind your manners." Joe interrupted, squaring up a little to Jim. Jim shook his read in response.

"Relax, Cupcake. It was a joke." He offered him a forced smile as he patted 'Cupcake' on his shoulder. Wrong. Move. Joe pulled Jim's shoulder back, spinning him around to face three other cadets that had joined Joe. Well, shit. It was obvious these guys were looking for a fight. Nothing uncommon with the security cadets. I glanced over at Uhura to try and get her help in diffusing the tension, but she was too engrossed in another conversation to notice me.

"Hey, farm boy," I winced at the lame insult Cupcake threw at Jim. Even I knew that wouldn't offend Jim in the slightest. This was cringe worthy. "Maybe you can't count, but there are four of us, and one of you."

Without missing a beat, Jim squared up to him. "So get some more guys, and then it'll be an even fight." Ending his comeback, he playfully slapped Cupcake on the face, before smiling and turning back to me. But before he could even lay eyes on me, Cupcake spun Jim around, and landed a hefty right hook in Jim's face. Everyone in the bar stopped what they were doing, all eyes were now on the brawl.

"Hey, guys! Stop it!" Uhura yelled as she made her way over to me. She looked at me, silently asking me if I was alright. I rolled my eyes in return as Jim straightened up from the blow, and planted a solid kick into Cupcake's stomach, sending him flying into a nearby table. Gasps filled the bar as me and Uhura stood there, trying to get everyone to stop and calm down. Soon, Jim was swarmed with guys, fending them off impressively considering how much alcohol he'd consumed. Glasses were being smashed and people's drinks were knocked on the floor. All of a sudden I felt my earlier drunken buzz dissipate out of my body.

Jim stumbled towards us, his hands reaching out in front of him, grabbing Uhura and I's chests as he stopped himself from falling completely. Gasping, Uhura shoved him off whilst recoiled my fist back and punched him in the forehead, aiming to wipe that smug smile off his face. He flew backwards into the arms of the other cadets, and it wasn't long until Jim was outnumbered, being beat on mercilessly.

"Guys, please stop!" I tried to urge the onslaught to finish. This wasn't just a bar brawl anymore, but was an assault on a pretty defenseless guy.

"He's had enough," Uhura spat, only to be ignored. Suddenly, a whistle echoed around the bar, and everyone in the bar stopped, motionless. All our eyes met Captain Pike, stood surveying the scene that had just played out in front of him, disgust all over his face. Jim laid helplessly over a table, blood running down his face, groaning.

"Outside. All of you. Now!" Pike ordered. We didn't have to be told twice. Everyone scurried out through the exit as fast as we could, mumbling about how their night had been ruined and their wasted credits. I walked slowly past Jim, assessing the damage. I patted him discreetly on the chest, turning back at the doorframe to look at him one more time, sprawled out over the table. He only winked at me, and sent me one of those trademark smiles.


	2. Chapter 2

That next morning I was barely able to keep my eyes open. After the bar fight myself and my fellow cadets all made our way back to our lodgings for the night, only to get a few hours sleep before we had to get up again. Uhura had continued drinking once we got back to the motel we were staying in that night, raiding the mini bar for tiny bottles of vodka and Skagaran whiskey. Nonetheless, we both looked a little worse for wear this morning.

I forced a content smile as I acknowledged Captain Pike, who would be flying us back to the Academy. Annoyingly, he didn't look fazed by the early hour of the day, and probably the lack of sleep he got from having to sort out a silly bar fight. With a grumble, I climbed the steps aboard the shuttle that would be taking us back to the academy, the harsh morning light making my eyes sting and water. I thought about where that guy was now, and what he was doing. Was his name Josh?

"Excited to go back?" Uhura asked as we both sat down and strapped ourselves in to our seats. I shrugged as I groggily struggled to pull the straps over my shoulders.

"I guess so," I smiled to myself in victory as the buckle made a satisfactory 'click', and I let my body relax. "How about you?" Resting my head back and slouching in my seat, I eyed up the cadets that were seated a few rows away, each sporting bruises and small cuts on their face. I remembered that guy now. Jim Kirk.

"I can't wait to go back to the lab," Uhura smiled. She was really passionate about her studies and learning new things. She was top of her class in Xenolinguistics. Whenever we'd study together in our dorm, I'd always find myself perplexed at how she remembered all these different words and dialects. Though that worked two ways, as she herself struggled to grasp the concept of some of my astrophysical theories.

A loud bang distracted us from our conversation, as we turned our attention to the source of the noise. My jaw dropped open. Kirk?

He had bags under his eyes - it was obvious that he hadn't had much sleep, and dark spots of blood were splattered all down his t-shirt from last night. He walked through the shuttle, greeting his opponents from just eight hours earlier with a sarcastic remark.

"At ease, gentlemen." Letting out a small scoff, I turned back to Uhura.

"He's joining Starfleet," I muttered to her. It came out more as a statement than I wanted it to as a question, but she shook her head in disbelief all the same. He sat down in an empty seat just a way down from us, not noticing our presence just yet. Jim looked quite pale, smears of blood still lingered around his mouth and a red mark had formed where I had punched him in the forehead. As he struggled, like me, to put on his safety belt, his eyes finally fell on us, hesitating for a second, letting a smile and a light laugh out of his mouth. Uhura rolled her eyes, finding something interesting to look at elsewhere in the shuttle.

"Never got that last name, Alex," he called over to me, fastening himself in. Raising an eyebrow I let out a giggle, only once again to be distracted by a commotion from the left of the shuttle.

"You need a doctor," a flight officer stated to another passenger.

"I told you people, I don't need a doctor damn it, I am a doctor!" he replied in a gruff, southern accent, sounding considerably pissed off.

"You need to get back to your seat," she challenged him, pulling him along by his arm. It was clear from her voice that she was struggling to keep her cool. He stumbled towards where Jim was sat, dressed in civilian clothing like him. Except from a further inspection, I couldn't see any dried blood and he didn't look like he'd come straight from a bar fight.

"I had one in the bathroom with no windows," the guy explained whilst the flight officer continued to instruct him to sit down. "I suffer from aviaphobia! It means fear of dying in something that flies." He snapped, gesturing with his finger the shuttle we were all currently sat in.

"Sir, for your own safety you need to sit down, or else I'll make you sit down," she defiantly replied, a feisty look all over her face. If he was going to mess with her, she would kick him right off this shuttle. He nodded having met his match, he mumbled a 'fine', taking a seat in the empty one next to Jim.

"This is Captain Pike. We've been cleared for take off." The Captain said over the PA as the guy hastily strapped himself in whilst the shuttle doors closed with a whoosh. I looked on to see him address Jim.

"I may throw up on you," he informed Jim with a look of distaste. I stifled a laugh as Jim looked back at him.

"You know, I think these things are pretty safe," he replied, flashing the man a hint of a smile.

"Don't pander to me kid," the man began, looking at the cadets all around him. The engines started to whir and began to lift us into the air. "One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen seconds." Jim began to look uneasy, or annoyed at this guy's ranting. "A solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats. And wait till you're sitting pretty with a case of Andorran shingles. See if you're still so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding." He continued to fiddle with his safety belt.

"Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence." He finished with a huff.

"Well, I hate to break this to you, but Starfleet operates in space…" Jim answered calmly. The man let out a sigh as he looked down at his lap.

"Yeah, well. I got nowhere else to go," he pulled something out of his coat pocket. "The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I got left is my bones." He raised a hip flask to his lips, taking a sip. Jim looked at him with disbelief, not knowing what to say next. They shared a look, and the man offered the hip flask to Jim. My stomach grumbled. Even the thought of ingesting more alcohol after last night made me feel sick.

"Jim Kirk," Jim introduced, raising the tiny flask and taking a sip.

"McCoy. Leonard McCoy," the man introduced, a smile tugging at his lips. Jim handed back the flask with a nod of his head, and made eye contact with me. Smirking, he shot me a wink to which I shook my head as I felt a blush rise up my neck. Uhura saw this exchange, and she sent a playful elbow into my side. I slapped her hand, sending her a death glare. She smiled at me in response as I turned my head to send the same death glare back to Jim.

He was already talking to McCoy, probably about why his face and clothes were covered in blood. I figured that McCoy would want to know why as he is a doctor, blood anywhere is probably a main concern of his. Sighing, I leaned on Uhura as I let my eyes flutter shut. This was going to be a long ride.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry I haven't updated for a while, I've been really busy working and whatnot. But anyways, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy! I only own my OC.**

During the course of three years, you could say Jim Kirk and I became quite good friends. We worked together in the classes that we shared and occasionally we would study together. But more often than not, he would use me as a gateway to the entire female population at the Academy, asking me to either 'put in a good word', or advice on how to drop a girl who got a bit too attached for his liking. This worked the other way too, with girls from various years asking me about Jim and what he looks for in a girl.

This bothered me from time to time, as it felt like Jim was using me rather than actually valuing me as a person and a friend. But my opinion changed when he was there for me when my dad passed away during my second year at the Academy. All the other cadets had started to make their way home for Spring break, but I chose to stay at the Academy to have some alone time whilst my family back home made funeral preparations. I guess that the reality of my father's death would hit me when I finally set foot through the front door of my house, and I didn't ever want to feel that. I didn't want to accept that he had gone. I was scared.

When Jim showed up to my dorm with a smile plastered on his face, and his books tucked under his arm, I broke down into tears. He had stayed behind too with the hope of picking my brains to pass his Interspecies Ethics class, but instead ended up staying with me for a week in my dorm room.

"Well, I've never made a girl cry without saying anything to her before," he mumbled into my hair after he'd dropped his books and engulfed me in a bone crushing hug. "What's wrong, Alex?" He sweetly asked as he pulled back from the hug, his hands remaining on my shoulders and looking into my green eyes.

I sniffed, rubbing my nose with the back of my hand. "My dad's dead." I whispered, looking down at his feet. I'm not even sure how he heard me speak, but he wrapped his arms around me once again as I let all myself break down.

"I'm sorry," he calmly spoke to me, stroking and playing with my brown, tangled hair.

For that whole week, Jim stayed with me, only leaving me when I had fallen asleep and making sure I didn't lose my mind completely. We watched movies, ate shitty takeout food and studied. He even spoke to my family back in Brooklyn explaining that I'd be home in a few days. Jim understood how petrified I was, and what it means to lose your father. He convinced me however, on the sixth day, that I needed to go home and be with my family. He offered to go with me, but I politely declined at the realisation that I had in fact spent six days in his company, and he hadn't tried to get into bed with me. I was also horrified at the thought of my grandparents asking Jim how long he'd been my boyfriend and when we were planning to tie the knot - that was a situation I wanted to avoid at all costs. So on the seventh morning, Jim escorted me to the shuttle port where he saw me off to Brooklyn, with the promise that he would keep in touch.

The funeral was brutal and hard. I had done my crying in private, but it still sucked to see my family so upset. We weren't that close anymore, but I had to go for my dad. He would want me to be there. My Aunts and Uncles looked at me with a certain distaste in their eyes, but gave me their sympathies anyway. I was the only child, my mother had been killed in an accident when I was very young. My dad struggled to cope with her death, and he started to drink a lot. Something my mother's family and even some of his family really despised. But he still did everything he could for me. We were a team, and going home made me realised that I really loved him.

I had called Uhura several times during the week to catch up with her. She had offered to come home to be with me, but I told her not to worry. She wasn't Jim's biggest fan, but was grateful for him looking out for me nonetheless. Just like Jim had promised, he messaged me every night, telling me all about how he dragged McCoy to various bars and got him drunk. His daily updates made me smile, and strangely enough I actually looked forwards to going back to the Academy.

When I got home, we never spoke about the funeral or my trip back to Brooklyn. I was thankful for that, as any mention of my dad or home would bring up lots of unwanted emotions. We went back to our normal routine, Jim being a serial womaniser, and me being top of the class. It was almost like we forgot that week ever happened, the new found 'intimacy' that we shared between us and how comfortable we became in each other's presence. But I never forgot that week, and I knew that deep down, he hadn't either.

It was a glorious day in San Francisco. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, the sun beaming down on the red uniforms of the cadets that flooded the campus. Cadets were rushing around in different swarms to get where they needed to go, a few of them stopping to talk to friends and Commanders that were hovering around too. I was walking towards the main building when I spotted Jim and McCoy stood just a few feet in front of me. McCoy looked as grumpy as ever, rolling his eyes at Jim as he eyed up some female cadets walking by.

"Jim, it's the Kobayashi Maru. No one passes the test." McCoy chided Jim. "And no one goes back for seconds, let alone thirds."

Jim smiled smugly as he patted McCoy on the shoulder, turning to be faced with me. "Ah, Alex. You'll be there tomorrow, won't you?"

"Oh, to watch you fail miserably, again? Sure, count me in," I sweetly smiled. He shook his head.

"I gotta study," Jim took off in a brisk walk.

"Study my ass," McCoy sighed. I let out a little laugh, smiling at McCoy's moodiness.

"How you doing, McCoy?" I asked. He let out another sigh as he gestured forwards, inviting me to walk with him. McCoy and I were friends, bonding over our shared annoyance at Jim's extravagant escapades and fixations. We often found ourselves left alone at bars where Jim had dragged us out, only for him to go off with some girl, or sometimes even girls. Uhura would always disappear after three or four drinks, opting to either go home early or meet up with some other friends. My solution to this would be to get drunk, much to McCoy's dismay but I'd like to to think that we'd have a good time without Jim, even if McCoy did have to drag me home once or twice.

"I'm great, aside from countless numbers of reports and tests I need to study for," he grumbled. "What about you?"

"Tell me about it. You're a qualified doctor, yet you're still studying your balls off," I grinned at him as he let a ghost of a smile creep onto his face as he rolled his eyes at me. "I'm good. I'll leave you to study," I patted his shoulder and he nodded.

"See ya tomorrow," he called waving his hand up in the air and then disappearing in a sea of other cadets. I let out a short puff of air, and turned to walk towards the long range sensor lab where Uhura had asked me to meet her this morning. I looked up at the sky and the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance, letting a content smile grace my features.


	4. Chapter 4

"We're receiving a distress call from the USS Kobayashi Maru," Uhura swirled round in her chair as I stifled a laugh from the desk next to her at the cynical tone she had added to her voice. "The ship has lost power and is stranded. Starfleet Command has ordered us to rescue them."

Jim lightly smiled from the Captain's chair. "Starfleet Command has ordered us to rescue them," he paused for a moment in thought as he spun round to face forwards. "Captain." After receiving a death glare from Uhura at Jim's cockiness, I turned to my station as an alarm started to buzz.

"Two Klingon vessels have entered the neutral zone and are locking weapons on us," McCoy informed Jim, pressing buttons on his desk and looking at various instruments. Jim shrugged.

"That's okay," I tried not to let my jaw drop too much, but I failed miserably as McCoy turned to Jim wide eyed and confused.

"That's okay?" He repeated Jim's statement as a question, hoping to gain some more understanding to his nonchalance.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," he replied, appearing to look completely disinterested by the whole scenario.

"Their ships are advancing," I said, scanning my screens for any information. I glanced over at Uhura who looked just as confused as I was, monitoring any communications that were coming through - or though by now she knew what to expect as Jim had made us sit this test with him too many times.

"Three more Klingon warbirds decloaking and targeting our ship." McCoy said again as Jim smiled. "I don't suppose this is a problem either?" McCoy asked sarcastically, waving his hand in the air at the window in front of us, which was now a sea of Klingon ships. Even though this wasn't real, it still had a sense of reality to it. I for one knew that if Jim acted like he was now at the helm of a ship then I would be evacuating myself off it right away.

"They're firing, Captain." A weapons officer stated from in front of Jim. Ignoring this information, Jim simply sat back in his chair.

"Alert medical bay to prepare to receive all crew members from the damaged ship." He called back to Uhura, as she swirled round in her chair once again, seeming to have lost her fake composure from earlier on.

"And how to you expect us to rescue them when we're surrounded by Klingons, Captain?" She pointed to the ships firing at us, spitting the word Captain as if it were poison in her mouth. I gnawed at the inside of my cheek, wondering how the hell Jim was going to get himself out of this. He leaned over, smiling at Uhura sweetly.

"Alert medical," he ordered again, ignoring her well thought question. I mouthed to Jim, "What?", intending to get an answer for all of these strange orders and all I got was an innocent shrug and smirk in response. I shook my head at him as I turned to my screens. Our shields were being damaged, and I knew that we didn't have long left with the type of weapons systems they were using against us. Uhura alerted medical with a few taps on her screen, tapping a bit harder than necessary.

"Our ship is being hit. Shields at sixty percent." McCoy informed Jim once again, a look of annoyance on his face. Jim pulled out an apple from his pocket.

"I understand," he replied, matter of factly. McCoy turned to him.

"Well should we, I don't know, fire back?" McCoy asked Jim, his tone rather fiery. I let out a sigh as more and more sensor alarms and warnings were popping up on my screen. Jim once again, looked unfazed by the chaos that was happening around him.

"No," he replied before taking a loud bite from his apple. I suddenly found myself wanting to rip the piece of fruit out of his hand and throw it at his head. I did not get up at seven in the morning to fail this test. Again. Under Jim Kirk's command.

"Of course not," McCoy muttered under his breath, looking just as frustrated as I was. Suddenly, all of our systems flickered, and seemed to power down, the droning noise of power rushing out of the simulator. I looked at Uhura's station, where she sat dumbfounded and looking at mine. Jim, meanwhile, continued to munch on his apple whilst the bridge crew tried to figure out what the problem seemed to be. This had never happened in a Kobayashi Maru test before, surely?

After a few seconds of confusion, the power flickered back on, and Jim seemed to switch back on too. Apple in hand, he commanded us. "Arm photons. Prepare to fire on the Klingon warbirds." Everyone looked pleased to finally be given an order that wasn't to simply "not worry about it,".

"Jim, their shields are still up," McCoy exclaimed, his hand raised in what was either frustration or to remind Jim just how many ships stood against ours.

"Are they?" Jim asked, seemingly surprised as he took another loud bite from the piece of fruit. McCoy, and everyone else on the bridge seemed to check their readings, and to our amazement, their shields were in fact down.

"No, they're not," McCoy confirmed, a hint of astonishment in his gruff voice as his eyes darted around his readings.

Jim took a deep breath before declaring us to fire on all enemy ships, his mouth half full of apple. "One photon each should do. Let's not waste ammunition," he added on to his weapons officer.

"Target locked and acquired on all warbirds. Firing," the officer replied, tapping buttons as he readied our weapons. All of the crew looked up to the window in front of us, watching as all of the ships were destroyed, the Kobayashi Maru flying in no particular direction behind the chaos. Simulated booms and explosions filled the bridge as Jim mimicked shooting a gun at one warbird as it was blown to pieces.

"So childish," I muttered, turning away from the fight and back to my station. "All ships destroyed, Captain." I called out into the bridge.

"Begin rescue of the stranded crew," Jim ordered, rising from his chair without missing a beat. "So!" He began. "We've managed to eliminate all enemy ships," Uhura shook her head and let out a laugh in disbelief. "No one on board was injured," Jim patted a shocked McCoy on the back as he walked around the bridge. "And the successful rescue of the Kobayashi Maru crew is underway." He took another bite of his apple as he shot a wink to me, then looked up to the observation platform that was set up a few feet above the bridge.

"Well that was... fun." Uhura whispered to me.

"I don't know how he did that. Something like that has never happened in a test before. He's up to something," I muttered in response, folding my arms over my chest as I glanced over at Jim, who was in deep conversation with McCoy, who was probably asking Jim what had just happened.

"And I trust that you're going to find out what that something is?" Uhura winked at me. As much as she disliked Jim sometimes, she loved the gossip he provided us with. I let out a light laugh.

"Why, of course," I rose from my seat and approached Jim who was still chatting to McCoy. "So, Captain, what Tactical Training class did you learn _that_ technique from?" I asked as I folded my arms and raised an eyebrow. McCoy had a hint of an amused smile on his face.

"Oh, Alex," he beamed, throwing an arm over my shoulder. "You're always the first to compliment me on my outstanding ability to captain a starship," he patted my head with his other hand, ruffling my brown hair out of its neat braid. I pushed him off me, smoothing out my hair frantically as I scowled playfully at him. McCoy laughed as he stood from his station, muttering a 'see you later' to Jim and I as he exited the simulator, like all the other cadets.

"But if I had to tell you, I'll just say I might have called in a favour," he mumbled, tapping his nose, signifying for me to keep my mouth shut. "Now I don't know about you, but I'm starving," he made his way over to the exit, waiting for me to catch up. "Let's discuss this over brunch."

* * *

"You slept with Gaila to get her to hack the test?!" I whisper-shouted at Jim. We were currently sat in the Academy's canteen, that was virtually empty bar from a few tables a distance away from us. Most of the cadets had headed off to their morning classes.

"Well no, but... yes. I can see why it sounds like I did," Jim replied before taking a bite out of his sandwich. I scoffed. Does this man ever stop eating?

"Sounds like? You did Jim, and that's really mean. I think she actually likes you," I pleaded for Gaila's case, although from past experience, I knew that my reasoning wouldn't change Jim's mind about her, or any other girl for that matter. I shook my head as I took a sip of orange juice. Uhura and I's roommate hadn't stopped gushing about Jim since he took her on a date a few weeks back, and we had our suspicions that they were sleeping together when she would ask us every morning what our entire movements of the day would be - class, time, place and who we would be with. Yesterday Uhura told me that she had caught Jim in his underwear hiding underneath Gaila's bed.

"She said she loved me," Jim sighed. "I can't help that women fall in love with me at the drop of a hat... Well maybe I'm just really good in bed." He thought aloud. I made a fake throwing up noise and he laughed.

"You're disgusting," I spat at him playfully. "One day, you're going to meet your match. And it's going to be biblical." I smiled defiantly. Jim let out a scoff.

"You're just mad because you haven't seen how _biblical_ I am in bed." With that retort he sat back in his seat, raising his cup of coffee to his lips and taking a sip. My mouth dropped open a little, and I hated that I could feel a blush rising from the back of my neck onto my face. Knowing that he would notice this, I frantically racked my brain for a reply.

"Oh, shut up. I might be biblical and you'll never find out." I bit my lip. In my head that sounded much less challenging and much more domineering. Jim raised an eyebrow.

"Never?" He asked, a flirty twinkle in his eye.

"Never." I repeated, keeping my cool as I raised my eyebrow, challenging him to take this any further.

"Well, we'll see about that," he half-heartedly challenged as he looked down at his communicator for the time. "Well I've gotta go to class. Few of us are going to the bar later to celebrate my success," he raised from his seat and smiled down at me. "Will I see you there? I'll get you a drink for being the best science officer on the bridge today."

I rolled my eyes. "You know I'm the best. And yeah, I'll be there." I stood up also, smiling at him. There was a second's silence, and he suddenly pulled me into a quick hug.

"See you later, Alex," he squeezed, and he was gone just as quick as the hug was over. I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding as I watched Jim exit the canteen. My heart felt heavy and fluttery, and it dawned on me. Did I now have a crush on Jim Kirk?


	5. Chapter 5

Well, we never ended up at the bar that night. Shortly after two in the afternoon, the Academy directors called an urgent assembly that all cadets must attend. I let out a huff of air from where I was sat in my dorm on my bed, throwing my communicator to the end of it. I was using the rest of my day to study and rest after today's earlier antics. And more importantly, to try and decide if and how Jim Kirk had become a lot more attractive in the last three hours.

I hadn't seen Uhura since the test that morning. I thought she must've gone to see Commander Spock, one of her lecturers. I let myself smile as I swung my feet over the side of my bed, pulling on my boots. She liked him, a lot, and I had started to get the feeling that he was more than just a lecturer to her. I never really understood her infatuation with him - he was emotionless all the time, a trait he must've gotten with his race. I marvelled at the fact that Uhura actually managed to get him to smile sometimes, whether it would be amazing test results or a lighthearted joke that she knew he would understand and find amusing.

Standing up, I shoved my communicator in my pocket and exited my dorm, a lot of other cadets following suit as they all rushed to the elevators to get to the assembly hall. I contemplated contacting Uhura to get her to save me a seat next to her, but in the end I didn't bother - it was too loud in the corridors and I knew that despite the groundbreaking technology behind them, I would not be able to hear her properly. As I exited one of the many dorm halls on campus into the San Francisco sun, I spotted McCoy not that far away from me. I made a beeline for him, trying to ignore how hot I was beginning to get in the stuffy uniform.

"McCoy," I called just metres behind him. He spun round to face me with a frown of his face, but it softened when he laid eyes on me.

"Hey Alex," he slowed his steps to let me catch up with him, falling into step with me as we followed the swarms of cadets headed across the campus. "How are you?"

"I'm okay thanks. Just wondering what this assembly will be about," I looked up at McCoy, shielding my eyes from the afternoon sun with my hand. He grumbled in agreement.

"Shouldn't be anything too serious. Hopefully just a few reminders and housekeeping rules," he suggested, looking at something in the distance. I followed his gaze, and saw Jim Kirk stood with a redhead - Gaila. I knew it was Gaila as soon as she rose her right hand, and slapped him across the face, hard. McCoy let out a tut as we heard the slap. "Another one bites the dust," he mumbled, and I let out a giggle. Jim stood there, a confused and dazed expression on his face as he held his cheek. His eyes wondered, until they recognised the tall frame of McCoy as we steered our way towards him.

"I'm guessing you deserved that," I smiled at Jim as he glared at me, unimpressed. He fell into step beside me, my head only just reaching the top of his and McCoy's shoulders.

"I broke it off, before it got too... serious." He simply stated, wanting to discuss the matter no more. He was obviously a bit put out at being slapped in public, but hey. That happens when you're Jim Kirk.

I patted him on the back reassuringly. "You did the right thing, before it got too serious, like you said. She'll get over it." He grunted in return as McCoy let out a scoff and I jabbed in him in his arm, sending him a 'don't you dare' glare. "So, Jim, what do you think this assembly is about?" I asked in a happy and light tone, trying to change the subject. Jim shrugged.

"I don't know," he paused for a few beats. "Maybe it's about how well I did on the Kobayashi Maru test earlier," he continued, beaming at McCoy and I. I sent him a bemused grin; it didn't take long for normal, cocky Jim to return.

All three of us made it to the main assembly hall through the sea of red uniforms. I was always astounded by how big the building was and how beautiful the glass looked in the basking sun. I searched around for Uhura to sit next to as I followed them into the hall, but I failed to find her. I let out a frustrated sigh.

"Looking for someone?" Jim asked, an eyebrow raised as we followed McCoy into a middle row.

"Only Uhura," I replied. Jim nodded, patting the seat next to him for me to sit down in.

"Looks like I'll have to do," he said as McCoy sat down the other side of him. I rolled my eyes, sticking my tongue out at him as I took a seat. He let out a laugh as I folded my arms across my chest. "Oh don't be like that, Alex. I know you love me really," he mumbled into my ear, his warm breath tickling my neck. I elbowed him in the shoulder to get him out of my personal space, and also to prevent him from noticing the blush that was beginning to show on my neck and cheeks.

"Shut up, it's about to start." I hissed back at him before taking a deep breath, trying to calm down my heart that was beating heavily in my chest. I looked at his knees, and how close they were to my bare ones, just centimetres from touching. I could smell his scent, the familiar smell of his apple shampoo, and I could hear him intake and release steady breaths that matched the subtle rise and fall of his chest. I mentally slapped myself, telling myself to get a grip.

"This session has been called to resolve a troubling matter." The Academy President, Admiral Barnett announced, calmly from his seat at the front of the hall. "James T. Kirk, please step forward." My eyes widened, as did every other cadet's. Jim's breathing stopped, and he gave me a wide eyed glance. The President continued, as Jim stood and made his way to the speaking stand at the front of the hall, facing the council.

"Cadet Kirk, evidence has been submitted to this council suggesting that you violated the ethical code of conduct pursuant to Regulation seventeen-point-four-three of the Starfleet code. Is there anything you care to say before we begin, sir?" Jim looked around the hall, trying to compose himself. I saw him take a deep breath.

"Yes," he began, and I shot a worried glance to McCoy who sent me one right back. "I believe I have the right to face my accuser directly." The President nodded in the direction of none other than Commander Spock, who rose out of his seat as gasps of disbelief filled the hall. I tightened my fists and gnawed at the inside of my cheek. What had Jim gotten himself into?

"Step forward, please. This is Commander Spock. He is one of our most distinguished graduates." The President began as Spock made his way swiftly to the front of the hall. "He's programmed the Kobayashi Maru exam for the last four years." I bit my lip as the two of them shared an intense glance. I knew that Jim would be fuming. "Commander?"

"Cadet Kirk," Spock began. "You somehow managed to install and activate a subroutine in the programming code, thereby changing the conditions of the test." Jim shrugged at this accusation.

"Your point being?" he asked.

"In academic vernacular, you cheated." The President stepped in. There was another murmur amongst the cadets. I looked around at them all, confused and shocked expressions on their faces.

"Let me ask you something, I think we all know the answer to," Jim recomposed himself, cutting off the murmur. "The test itself is a cheat, isn't it?" Jim turned to Spock directly. "I mean, you programmed it to be unwinnable."

"Your argument precludes the possibility of a no-win scenario," Spock dismissed him.

"I don't believe in no-win scenarios," Jim proudly said, facing the President.

"Then not only did you violate the rules, you also failed to understand the principal lesson." Spock answered his claim.

"Please, enlighten me," Jim shrugged.

"You of all people should know, Cadet Kirk, a captain cannot cheat death," Spock replied, looking at Jim dead in the eye. Once again the cadets muttered amongst themselves at the mention of Jim's father. I for one, was begging to lose my composure, and right after that low blow, I felt a burning hatred to punch Spock in the face. Jim paused, then shook his head a little.

"I of all people?" He scoffed, just audible enough for the front rows to hear. Spock continued.

"Your father, Lieutenant George Kirk, assumed command of his vessel before being killed in action, did he not?"

"I don't think you like the fact that I beat your test," Jim exclaimed. Spock ignored this, carrying on with his earlier point.

"Furthermore, you have failed to divine the purpose of the test."

"Enlighten me again," Jim stated, looking at Spock dead in the eye, not missing a beat.

"The purpose is to experience fear, fear in the face of certain death." Spock calmly stated, the tension in the hall not fazing his composure at all. "To accept that fear, and maintain control of oneself and one's crew." Jim looked down, realising that he'd definitely undermined the test. "This is a quality expected in every Starfleet captain." There was silence as everyone in the room digested Spock's words. I felt myself let go of the earlier anger I felt towards Spock, and a small amount of the tension escape the room.

"Excuse me, sir," someone had entered the hall, walking over to the table where the President was sat. He grabbed everyone's attention as he handed over a PADD, probably with a message on it. The President scanned the screen for a few second, then looked up, wide eyed at the hundreds of recruits sat before him.

"We've received a distress call from Vulcan. With our primary fleet engaged in the Laurentian system, I hereby order all cadets to report to Hangar One immediately. Dismissed." Immediately, the whole room broke out into chatter, some confused, some excited, some even scared. As the President stood, all the cadets did too with a whoosh. My jaw dropped, as I looked at McCoy who looked disappointed at this news. Cadets were rushing all around us heading for the exit. McCoy made his way down to Jim, who still stood at the front looking startled. I searched for Uhura, spotting her as she headed for an isle. Well this was it. We were finally all headed into space.


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you for all the lovely reviews - I'm glad you're enjoying my story as much as I enjoy writing it. Anyways, here's the next instalment! I only own my OC. Enjoy!**

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As Uhura and I stepped into Hangar One, it felt alive. Hundreds of crew, cadets and Commanders were darting around to different shuttle stations as loud chatter and mechanical clunks and clicks echoed around the vast hangar. We had left McCoy and Jim behind. I knew that Jim would get over the incident, and that McCoy would be able to talk him down from even being slightly upset about it.

Shuttles were lined up perfectly, steam from their engines raising into the air in small, uniform puffs. Shuttles that were cleared for take off flew just above our heads, the familiar sound of their droning dissipating off into the distance. We took a moment to scout out the sight of it, just how big it was and how many people were here. Sure, we'd been in here before but never when it was this busy and we had direct orders from the Academy President.

"I think it's this way," Uhura directed us towards our Commander, waiting for us all to assemble to give us our orders and assignments. "I hope I'm assigned to the Enterprise with you," she muttered into my ear, as we waited for a few moments for the rest of our form to arrive.

"Me too," I replied, flashing a reassuring smile at her. I listened in to the Commander as she shouted our names, each telling us which Ship we would be reporting to. I didn't have to wait too long, my surname being early on in the alphabet.

"Harris, USS Newton. Hart, USS Enterprise," that was all I had to hear. I tried not to let any sort of emotion creep onto my face, but when Uhura playfully nudged me in the ribs with her elbow, I grinned at her. I waited then, to hear her name with her being assigned with me on the Enterprise. I was pretty sure she would be, considering she was more than capable of handling any situation thrown at her on the Enterprise.

"Uhura, USS Farragut. Petrovsky, USS Antares. Go to your stations, good luck." My eyes widened as Uhura turned to glare at me. We stayed still for a second, contemplating what her next move would be. Commander Spock.

"I trust you're going to get yourself reassigned?" I asked, taking a step closer to her. I could tell she was angry as she tightened her fists to the side of her body. She simply nodded. I sent her a wink. "See you on the shuttle to the Starship Enterprise," I patted her on the shoulder as she shot off, in search for Spock. I turned to try find the correct shuttle to take me to my ship. I let out a breath as I laid my eyes on what I thought was McCoy and Jim, McCoy pulling him to a medical room in the corner of Hangar One. I contemplated leaving the two to whatever they were up to, but I had to talk to them to find out where they were assigned, and more importantly to see if Jim was alright from the assembly earlier.

I darted in their direction, trying to make my strides look purposeful so I wasn't stopped by anyone. I took one last glance around at the hangar to make sure nobody had followed me, and I ducked into the room.

"I couldn't just leave you there, looking all pathetic. Take a seat," McCoy told Jim as he fiddled with some medical equipment.

"What are you guys up to?" I questioned, their eyes snapping to me alertedly, but relaxing when they recognised me. Jim looked helpless as he sat down on a chair at a medical desk.

"Jim's academically suspended, so he hasn't been assigned. But I think I can get him onboard the Enterprise with me," McCoy explained. I nodded. There was no way Jim would have gotten over everyone leaving him behind.

"I'm assigned to the Enterprise too," I beamed at the two of them, who simply mumbled a well done. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm gonna give you a vaccine against viral infection from Melvaran mud fleas." McCoy explained, not giving Jim the chance to object as he stabbed a hydrospray into his neck. Jim spluttered in pain and surprise.

"What for?" He exclaimed, exasperated. I tried to stifle a laugh, but it didn't work. Jim shot me a death glare as he rubbed his neck.

"To give you the symptoms," McCoy replied matter-of-factly, gathering some medical supplies in a small shoulder bag.

"What are you talking about?" Jim asked again, all of a sudden stopping and looking back at me.

"You're gonna start to lose vision in your left eye," McCoy explained as he searched for more things from a different cabinet. Jim started to breathe a bit heavier.

"Yeah, I already have."

"McCoy, is this safe?" I asked, taking a step closer towards Jim, placing a hand on his shoulder to try and reassure him.

"Perfectly," McCoy waved it off with a flourish of his hand as he slung the bag's strap around him. "Oh, and you're gonna get a really bad headache and a flop sweat." He strode over to Jim, pulling him up by his right arm and slinging it over his shoulder to help Jim walk.

"Guessing I should probably help," I said to nobody in particular, as I put Jim's other arm around my smaller frame to try and support some of his weight to help McCoy look after him.

"You call this a favour?" Jim croaked as I again struggled to keep in a giggle. No time had been wasted in the vaccine taking action.

"Yeah, ya owe me one," McCoy replied as we made our way out of the medical room, back into the hangar. It should've been an easy walk to the shuttle McCoy took us to, but with Jim flopping about between us, it felt much longer and much harder.

We reached the Flight Officer stood at the door to the shuttle, checking every cadet that wanted to get aboard. His PADD beeped, and he let out a huff.

"Kirk, James T. He is not cleared for duty aboard the Enterprise." He stated. Jim had started pulling odd facial expressions and began to sweat slightly. Any other day, this would be hilarious but my shoulders started to protest at Jim's weight, and I wished that this short, chubby Flight Officer would just shut up and let us onboard. I got the feeling that McCoy felt the same however, as he replied to him with some attitude.

"Medical code states the treatment and transport of a patient is to be determined at the discretion of his attending physician, which is me." The flight officer looked between myself, Jim and McCoy, who carried on his composed rant. "So I'm taking Mr. Kirk aboard. Or would you like to explain to Captain Pike why the Enterprise warped into a crisis without one of its senior medical officers?" Jim had started to pant hard, and McCoy readjusted his grip on Jim's arm as I sweetly smiled at the Flight Officer.

"As you were," he finally said, letting us past as Jim let out a groan.

McCoy quickly looked the small Flight Officer up and down as he directed us into the shuttle. "As _you_ were."

I held back many laughs threatening to break my composure as between us, we strapped a very sweaty Jim Kirk into his seat, McCoy taking the window seat and myself taking the aisle. I spotted Uhura sat quietly towards the front of the shuttle by a window and I celebrated internally. Uhura had wanted nothing more than to serve on the Enterprise, probably the most advanced ship of the entire fleet.

As I strapped myself in, I released a breath I didn't realise I was holding, letting my head fall back onto the headrest behind me and my eyes flutter shut. I could still hear Jim's panting from beside me, and he was still sweating.

"Hey, Alex," he mumbled to me. I opened one eye and looked at his face that was leaning back also, little rivets of sweat dripping on his forehead. "You look really pretty like that," he still managed to flash a smile, although it was less appealing considering the dribble that had accumulated in the corner of his mouth. I grinned sympathetically at him, gently patting his knee as the pilot announced we were clear for take off.

"Trust me, if you could see yourself right now, you'd say you looked even prettier." I said quietly back to him in a calming tone. He let out a sigh, tinged with either pain or flattery, and let his head roll towards McCoy as our shuttle lifted up into the air.

It wasn't long until we were flying high over the skies of San Francisco and into the outer atmosphere, the cabin darkening as the bright blue skies of Earth were left behind us.

"I might throw up on you," Jim panted heavily to McCoy, but he was ignored as McCoy looked out of the window.

"Jim, Alex, you've got to look at this. Jim, look!" All three of us leaned towards the window, where we saw the magnificent sight of a Starfleet base, where several Starships were currently docked. We had seen pictures of bases like these hundreds of times, but to see it in person, for the first time, was insane. We elegantly flew around a few other ships, shuttles splitting off to dock and unload their passengers, until ours came into view.

The USS Enterprise. It was huge, and they were correct in saying that it was the most advanced ship of the fleet. Jim had stopped his panting for a few moments, simply exclaiming a 'wow' like several other speechless cadets on board with us. I let an excited squeak as I leaned closer to the window, almost until I was sat on top of Jim. We flew around the top of the ship, passing the bridge and then back down to the hull where we would be landing.

Our shuttle was one of the last to land. We waited for a few others before the air lock was turned on, the hull door shutting with a satisfying 'clunk'. Once we were cleared to exit, everyone rushed off to report to their stations. I helped McCoy get Jim off the shuttle, all three of us nearly toppling over down the steel steps, but once we were safely on the floor, I realised that I would have to get going.

"This is where I say goodbye, fellas," I said, unhinging Jim's arm from my shoulders.

"We'll see you later, Alex," McCoy flashed a rare smile at me, as he turned to Jim. "Let's go, Jim." I waved at them both, only getting a floppy wave back from Jim as his panting and sweating had started all over again. I let out a sigh as I shook my head in amusement. I took in my surroundings for a moment, getting my bearings. I needed to find the astrophysics station, and get changed into my uniform. I beamed inwardly, taking a deep breath.

This was going to be the adventure of a lifetime.


	7. Chapter 7

**Feeling generous, so here's a massive chapter for you all. This was an absolute pig to write, but I got there in the end - things are finally starting to kick off! Hope you all like it. I only own my OCs.**

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I straightened out my blue regulation dress as I walked down one of the hundreds of corridors on the USS Enterprise. I ran a finger over my Starfleet pin with the science emblem engraved into it, smiling at the smooth, familiar feel of it. I had fixed my brown hair into a single braid that I had twisted into a bun at the bottom of my head to keep it out of my face and tidy.

I had seen Uhura in our shared living quarters as we both were getting ready earlier on. We shared with one other female cadet, but she had already dumped her things and left by the time Uhura and I had found each other, and our room. It had a large, shared lounge and kitchen area, and three private bedrooms sprouting off it. The bathroom was a nice size, with a large mirror and an amazing looking shower, that I couldn't wait to get in and try out later on.

My room was the closest to the door, and I set my own private combination to keep my door locked when I wanted some privacy. Although, I knew Uhura would want to know it so she could come in if ever there was ever an emergency or if she fancied a gossip, and vice versa. I was glad she was my friend - ever since our first day at the Academy three years ago, we had got on well, both enjoying the company we provided each other with, as well as respecting each other's privacy. I'd like to think I knew Uhura very well, but I knew that she knew me better than I knew myself sometimes - she could easily read people and their feelings by the tone of their voice or what they chose to say. I'd expect nothing less from a Xenolinguistics student, especially an extraordinary one. On our way to our quarters she had told me how she had demanded Commander Spock to assign her to the Enterprise, a warm and amused smile playing on her lips.

"You should've seen his face, Alex," she laughed as she pulled on her black, shiny boots, preparing to report for duty at the Xenolinguistics section. It was comforting to know that she'd be just a deck below me from my station at the science section. I bid her a fond farewell as she gave me an excited hug, letting an excited squeal before releasing me.

"Nyota," I called to her as she reached the door. She spun to face me, an expectant smile on her face. "You look great," she sent a rare grin my way. Her red regulation dress complimented her dark skin perfectly.

"You too, Alex. See you later," she waved at me before disappearing out of the door with a whoosh.

It didn't take me that long to exit either, finding my way to the nearest turbolift and squeezing inside with several other science division cadets going to the same deck as I was. The hum of the turbolift filled the awkward silence between us all as the turbolift sprung into action, the ride only lasting a few seconds. We came to an abrupt but soft stop, the doors sliding open swiftly before we all filtered out of it hurriedly. Hundreds of blue shirts and dresses welcomed me as everyone started their work on monitoring the ship's sensors and beginning to interpret whatever information they needed to. I smiled as the reality of my dream coming true hit me. I was finally on board a starship, in my science blue uniform, ready to serve.

"All decks, this is Captain Pike. Prepare for immediate departure." The Captain's voice sounded over the communicators, and there was a buzz of excitement that filled the air of the Enterprise.

I found my way to an empty station, taking a seat and a large intake of air as I logged myself in to the computer. Being an astrophysicist, I had the responsibility of noticing and monitoring any astronomical objects in the environment, ensuring they were safe and didn't affect the ship. Suddenly, the loud hum of the engines fired up, and I felt us tip slightly to the right as we separated from the space dock. I started to bounce my knee up and down, feeling a wave of nervousness wash over me. I tried to calm myself down by focussing on my screen.

I had been fascinated by astronomy since I was a little girl, and my father had taken me into our back yard and told me to look up at the sky. He told me all about the constellations, distant planets and new races, and how one day, I could have it all. I smiled as I pressed a few buttons on my keyboard, tapping my screen to get my programs loaded up. He would be so proud of me right now.

I was brought out of my daze as I heard distant booms where all the other ships went to warp, their course set for Vulcan. I didn't realise I was holding my breath, waiting for the Enterprise to go into warp, excited to experience what it would feel like. I felt like a little girl that was about to go on their first ever rollercoaster ride.

"Hart, you alright over there?" A voice broke me out of my daze, and I turned to my right to see Smith, another astrophysicist that was in my class. He smiled reassuringly at me, waiting for my answer.

"Uh, yeah. Just excited to get to Vulcan," I replied back, trying my best not to blush. After a few seconds of waiting, we finally went into warp, with another bang, and I was slightly disappointed to discover that it didn't actually feel that different from when we were floating idle. I shrugged to myself, feeling indifferent about the matter, as a ship-wide mission broadcast started.

"May I have your attention please?" The whole science station around me stopped, and looked to their screens to see a young man address the entire ship. He spoke with a Russian accent, but I had no trouble understanding his words.

"At twenty-two-hundred hours, telemetry detected an anomaly in the neutral zone. What appeared to be a lightning storm in space. Soon after, Starfleet received a distress signal from the Vulcan High Command that their planet was experiencing seismic activity. Our mission is to assess the condition of Vulcan, and assist in evacuations if necessary. We should be arriving at Vulcan within three minutes. Thank you for your time." A beep sounded as the transmission ended.

I began to process the information we had just received, going over the Russian Ensign's words in my head. Lightning storm? I frowned. That sure was an anomaly. I tried to think of any astronomical events that would cause lightning in space, or for something to look like lightning. But there hadn't been any cosmic storms detected in that system for a significant amount of time, let alone any comets or any such events that could cause a big enough build up of energy to produce lightning... or had there?

"Smith," I called. His head darted to me from his computer screen. "There hasn't been any cosmic storms or comets in the Vulcan system, has there? At least not recently?" Smith jutted out his bottom lip, shaking his head after a moment's thought.

"No. Why?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. I smiled hesitantly at him.

"Just wondering," I turned my head back to my screen, spinning my chair so my back was now facing Smith, so that he couldn't try to speak to me anymore. I frowned as I started to frantically press keys on my computer, trying to bring up the telemetry readings they had detected. There was a commotion at the turbolift, as people started gasping out in shock, and frantic footsteps approached me. Looking up from my computer screen, I was faced with an out-of-breath Jim Kirk, with abnormally large hands. My eyes widened as I didn't know whether to laugh or be seriously worried about his condition. I relaxed however when I noticed McCoy standing behind Jim, trying to hold a white med-kit and fish out tools from inside it with just his two hands.

"Alex!" Jim exclaimed, as he dropped to his knees in front of me, trying to catch his breath. "Lightning-storm-in-space," he gushed out in one short breath. "It's not possible, is it?" He looked up at me, his face red and sweaty. His condition hadn't much changed since I saw him last, but the large hands were a worrying addition to his... symptoms.

"Umm," I began. "Well I was just thinking about that, Jim. I think it's too uncommon for us to treat it as an anomaly and not a threat." Looking at his hands, I frowned. "Is that normal?" I asked McCoy, who still had his head buried in his med-kit.

"There was a lightning storm the day my Dad died," Jim rose to his feet again, stumbling forwards slightly. I stood up to catch him by placing two hands on his shoulders. He really looked at me then, his light blue eyes delving deep into my darker ones. "And Uhura," he broke off as he stood upright, his eyes wide as he had a lightbulb moment. He raised one large, chubby finger in the air. "She picked up a transmission, we have to find her." He grabbed my shoulders, shaking me as McCoy jabbed a hydrospray into Jim's neck, making him croak in pain.

I chewed my lip in thought for a brief second. She had told me about a strange transmission she had picked up, but I thought nothing of it. But I suddenly got where Jim was coming from. If that transmission that Uhura had picked up was about a Romulan ship, then we would most definitely be warping into a crisis, just like McCoy had mentioned just over an hour ago. We had to do something.

"She's on the deck below," I stated. "Come on!" I left my station, running towards the turbolift, Jim and McCoy shortly behind me. The ride was mere seconds, as Jim busted out of the doors as soon as they were open enough. McCoy and I chasing after him.

"Dammit Jim, stand still!" McCoy shouted as Jim stopped, turning to him, about to unleash a cocky retort. But he was stopped as McCoy jabbed another hydrospray into his neck. Jim groaned in pain, attracting the attention of a few cadets around him.

"Stop it!" He scolded McCoy, who just looked unimpressed as Jim started racing through the crowds of people until he finally reached a shocked Uhura. "Uhura! Uhura!"

"Kirk," she exclaimed, standing from her chair, her eyes glancing over the three of us. "Alex, what are you doing here?" Her tone softened as she looked down at Jim's hands. "Oh my God, what's wrong with your hands?"

Jim shook his head frantically as McCoy came up behind him, scanning him over with a tricorder. "It's... look, who is responsible for the Klingon attack? And was the ship..." His words came out as a slurred gargle.

"What?" Uhura asked helplessly, looking to McCoy and I for help. Jim started repeating himself, and I shook my head at her.

"What's happening to my mouth?" Jim asked McCoy over his shoulder.

"You got numb tongue?" McCoy asked, a frown on his face.

"Oh, he's definitely got numb tongue," I replied, grimacing as Jim started to lose his cool.

"I can fix that!" McCoy started rummaging through is med-kit for a quick fix to Jim's speech problem.

"Was the ship what?" Uhura asked, exasperated at what was going on before her. Jim tried his best to sound out his words as best as he can, his facial expression focussed. I hoped that Uhura would understand him with her expertise in languages, although I wasn't sure Jim was even speaking one anymore.

After a few tries, he finally uttered a word that sounded a lot like 'Romulan'. Her eyes lit up.

"Romulan?" She asked hopefully. Jim made a sound that sounded like a confirmation, and Uhura frantically nodded at us.

"Yes!" She cried as McCoy stabbed another hydrospray into Jim's neck, and he cried out in pain and frustration. I let out a laugh to try and break the tension. Uhura looked at me with a tense smile on her face, before Jim rushed off to the turbolift. We broke into chase as McCoy, Uhura and I followed him around the ship, desperately calling after him. Before we knew it, we were entering the bridge of the ship. We all stopped abruptly at the door, our chests heaving as Jim addressed the Captain.

"Captain! Captain Pike, Sir!" Jim cried, his slurred voice now having returned back to it's normal tone. "We have to stop the ship," he dramatically stated, as he stopped just metres away from the Captain's chair.

"Kirk, how the hell did you get onboard the Enterprise?" Captain Pike asked, standing from his chair to face the four of us. Spock stood also, Uhura gravitating towards him.

"Captain, this man is under the influence of a severe reaction to a vaccine," McCoy started to explain, grabbing Jim's arm as he started to protest. "He's completely delusional, and I take full responsibility."

"Vulcan is not experiencing a natural disaster. It's being attacked by Romulans." Jim loudly declared, the whole bridge falling silent at his claim. I took a deep breath, looking warily at the Captain.

"Romulans? Cadet Kirk, I think you've had enough attention for one day," he spoke dismissively, turning to McCoy. "McCoy, take him back to medical. We'll have words later."

"Aye, Captain," McCoy said, failing to hold Jim back as he pursued Pike.

"Look, Sir, that same anomaly that we saw today-" Jim began, but Commander Spock all of a sudden spoke up.

"Mr. Kirk is not cleared to be aboard this vessel, Captain." He exclaimed. Jim rolled his eyes at him.

"Look, I get it, you're a great arguer..." They spoke over each other heatedly, and I nervously began to bite my lip as I moved forward to stand next to McCoy. Jim lost his composure completely after Spock said that he could remove Jim from the vessel, Captain Pike trying to calm him down.

"Try it! This cadet is trying to save the Bridge." Jim seethed as he edged closer to Spock.

"By recommending a full stop mid-warp during a rescue mission?" Spock replied, a hint of annoyance in his dead-toned voice.

"It's not a rescue mission. Listen to me. It's an attack." Jim turned back to Captain Pike, trying to reason with him.

"Based on what facts?" Spock asked him incredulously. The whole bridge paused, waiting for Jim's response.

"That same anomaly, a lightning storm in space that we say today, also occurred on the day of my birth, before a Romulan ship attacked the USS Kelvin." Jim said matter-of-factly, turning to Captain Pike. "You know that, Sir, I read your dissertation." I let out a shaky breath as Jim turned to me. "Miss. Hart, as an astrophysicist, how often do you see lightning storms in space?" I felt dozens of pairs of eyes fall on me.

"The most recent storm documented would've been the one on the day of your birth, like you said," I said, risking a look at Spock, who had a face like thunder. "Lightning storms are often mistaken for cosmic storms or comets. But I can tell you, the anomaly we saw today is exactly like the one before the attack on the Kelvin," I finished. There was a pause, everyone digesting what I had said.

"Thank you, Miss. Hart." Jim sent a small smile my way. "The ship that attacked the USS Kelvin had formidable and advanced weaponry and was never seen or heard from again. The Kelvin attack took place on the edge of Klingon space and at twenty-three-hundred hours last night, there was an attack. Forty-seven Klingon warbirds destroyed by Romulans," the Captain looked between Spock and Jim with a look of disbelief on his face. "And it was reported that the Romulans were in one ship, one massive ship."

The Captain didn't miss a beat. "And you know of this Klingon attack, how?" He asked Jim, who turned to Uhura, who like me, felt everyone's expectant gaze suddenly fall on her. She took a deep breath as she began, turning to face the Captain, ignoring Spock's heavy gaze.

"Sir, I intercepted and translated the message myself. Kirk's report is accurate." She finished.

"We're warping into a trap, Sir. The Romulans are waiting for us, I promise you that." Jim said lowly. Spock turned to Jim, his gaze unfaltering.

"The cadet's logic is sound." His eyes flittered to the Captain who was still stood between them. "And Lieutenants Hart and Uhura are unmatched in their fields. We would be wise to accept their conclusion." I felt myself blush slightly as the Captain started to dish out orders.

"Scan Vulcan space. Check for any transmissions in Romulan," he ordered his Communications Officer.

"Sir, I'm not sure I can distinguish the Romulan language from Vulcan," the officer replied, looking helpless. Captain Pike made his way over to Uhura.

"What about you, can you speak Romulan, cadet...?" He asked her.

"Uhura. All three dialects, Sir." She proudly stated. The Captain let a smile flicker onto his face, but it was gone just as quickly as it had arrived.

"Uhura, relieve the Lieutenant." He ordered, and she did what she was told. Internally I cried with happiness, knowing Uhura would be over the moon at getting a place on the bridge. "Hannity, hail the USS Truman." He ordered to another officer.

"All the other ships are out of warp, sir, and have arrived at Vulcan, but we seem to have lost all contact." Hannity replied, looking confused.

"Sir, I pick up no Romulan transmission, or transmission of any kind in the area." Uhura stated, looking just as uneasy as everyone else was on the bridge. Jim chipped in.

"It's because they're being attacked." Pike turned to look at him, before walking back to his chair.

"Shields up. Red alert." He calmly ordered. And just like that, a wailing alarm sounded though out the Enterprise. People rushed to their stations as I moved to stand next to Jim, Spock standing the other side of him. He sent a quick glance my way, and I sent him a reassuring smile back, resting my hand on his hand that was holding a rail behind the Captain's chair. He did good just then, and I couldn't help but feel proud of him, although I'd never admit that to him.

"Arrival at Vulcan in five seconds, four, three, two, one," the Helmsman counted. The bridge took a collective deep breath, as we prepared ourselves for what we were going to see when we came out of warp.


	8. Chapter 8

**Once again, thank you so much for the lovely reviews. Trying something a bit different in this chapter to begin with, hope you enjoy!**

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 _Flashback - 2 years ago_

I hopped onto a barstool, resting my elbows on top of the bar, waiting for the bartender to serve me. I'd chosen a bar in downtown San Francisco. It was a Wednesday night, nothing too exciting was going on. The bar was half empty, only old regulars and a few groups of people who decided to grab a drink after work were here. There were a few single drinkers, like me, but they kept to themselves, choosing to sit in booths in the dark corners of the bar.

"What can I get you, Miss?" My eyes snapped up to the middle-aged bartender.

"Just a Budweiser Classic, thanks," I responded, letting a small smile drift onto my face as he grabbed a Budweiser from the fridge, opened it and placed it in front of me, all in one fluid movement. I went to put my credits on the bar for him to take, but he shook his head.

"On the house, sweetheart. You look like you need it," he spoke quietly, before giving a curt nod and moving down to the other end of the bar to serve another customer. I let out a hushed laugh, and took a swig from my beer. I did need it, definitely.

It's not often that you hear of any catfights happening at the Academy, but, there's always a time for firsts. And that was me and another cadet, Stephanie Rekowski. The funny thing is, I can't even remember what she did to piss me off, or even what I did to push her over the edge, but she squared up to me in the Academy canteen at lunch time, but as I drank my beer, I began to remember. We were in our second year - friendships had already been formed, cliques already chosen. I was sat with some other cadets from my astrophysics classes, but they were quaking in their boots when they saw Rekowski storming over to us, a face like thunder.

"Alex, I think we need to have a little chit-chat," she sarcastically declared, getting the attention of the whole canteen. Silence. Everyone was waiting on what I was going to say next.

"What about?" I shrugged from my seat at the table, hoping that by seeming to not really care she'd back off a little. But I was wrong. This only seemed to piss her off more. She let out a scoff.

"You're sleeping with James, whilst he's going out with me!" Stephanie cried furiously, grabbing the collar of my uniform and dragging me up out of my seat. I let out a nervous laugh, looking back at my friends who were completely perplexed like everyone else at the scene playing out in front of them.

"Uh, no, Steph, you've got that completely wrong." I calmly replied, brushing her hands off my collar. I grimaced when her hands didn't budge, her grip only getting tighter. My heart started to beat so hard and fast that I could hear it pounding in my ears, and it actually began to hurt.

"You know nothing about girl code, do you? You know he's taken by me. He's way too good for you anyway," she sneered. I tried to let her words rush over my head, but they did hurt me a little. My eyes were frantically darting around the canteen, looking for Uhura, McCoy, or even Jim to get me out of the situation, my heart sinking at the realisation that I was alone in this one. "You're just a little bitch who can't stand someone else getting close to their _best friend_ ," she muttered to me, her face so close to mine that the tips of our noses were almost touching and I could see a bulging vein popping out of her forehead. After that, it was fair to say I lost my shit.

With all my might, I shoved her off me, my hands making contact with her chest. Stephanie stumbled backwards into a nearby table, where she regained her balance. I slowly took a few steps away from my table, my hands out in front of me, preparing for whatever was going to come next. I didn't know if she was about to burst into tears or unleash pure fury on me. We shared a look for a few seconds, mine wide-eyed and confused, hers just full on batshit crazy. She screamed with anger, propelling herself at me.

I felt all the oxygen I had in my body escape my lungs as she tackled me to the floor, my head slamming against the ground with a painful crack. Stephanie sat on top of me, her left fist making its way into my hair where she pulled and scratched my scalp. My right hand shot up to try and pull it off me, but I only managed to keep the scratching at bay. With her right hand, she raised it, and with a mad smile on her face, she punched me in the jaw. My vision blurred, with the heavy hit and being winded just a few seconds ago, my body was working overtime at trying to keep me conscious right now. I turned back to look at her in the eyes, my left hand now joining the fight in trying to get her hand out of my hair. But she punched me again, this time in the cheek and I felt everything go black.

I was only out for a few seconds, but when my eyes started to open again I saw red figures - other cadets pulling Stephanie off me, feeling extremely satisfied at the disappearance of her weight that was on top of me. My chest started to heave precious air into my lungs. As my vision slowly started to get better with each blink, I saw a blurry Jim knelt before me, his arms pulling me up to a stand. Other cadets were muttering to themselves, looking at me with cautious eyes. My legs felt like jelly and I found myself relying on Jim's support a lot more than I wanted to be.

"Are you okay?" He mumbled to me as he started to guide me out of the canteen. I let out a scoff.

"Yeah I'm fine, apart from the fact that I just had the _shit_ beaten out of me by one of your _girlfriends_ because she thinks we're an item," I spat, bringing a hand to my mouth, pulling it away to only see bright red blood. That's when the pain hit me, the ache in my head, my face and my chest. Jim's grip on my arm got tighter.

"I'm sorry, Alex. I'll talk to her," he said as we made it outside, him helping me down the brick steps and towards the dorms.

"You'll talk to her? That's all?" I asked incredulously, before groaning in pain. The sun was too bright and was hurting my eyes. Jim let out an unsure laugh.

"Yeah, I'll get her to apologise to you," he stepped up the pace as he saw I was recovering and didn't need his support as much anymore.

"So you're okay with dating an absolute psycho who just beat up your best friend?" I asked matter-of-factly. Jim looked at me, conflicted. He shook his head, readjusting his light grip on my elbow.

"She has a nice... Look, Alex. She just got the wrong end of the stick. I'm sure if I-" I cut him off, shaking my arm to get free of his grip. His eyes flickered over my bloody face as I stood before him.

"No, I don't want to hear it Jim. I can't believe you'd let some stupid girl get away with doing this to your friend," I nearly shouted, pointing to my face, which was throbbing in pain. "It's clear to me where your loyalties lie. You just want an easy fuck that's always gonna be there instead of a real friend," I huffed, spinning around striding towards my dorm. I could hear him protest by shouting my name, but he didn't follow me.

When I got to my dorm, I stripped off my bloodstained uniform, dumping it at the end of my bed, deciding not to bother turning up to any of my afternoon classes. No doubt that one of the Academy's Commanders will be in touch with me soon to get to the bottom of what happened, and what punishment Stephanie and I would face. I tried my best not to cry at being humiliated, but when I got into the shower, I broke. What upset me was seeing the dried blood wash off, staining the water a light red and escaping down the drain. My face stung, the water doing nothing to soothe any of the pain. I'd been in the shower for nearly one hour, not bothering to get out when the water started to run cold.

I was pissed off. Mainly at Jim, for saying that he'd still be with Stephanie. I knew that if my boyfriend had done anything like that to Jim, I'd get rid of him straight away, and Jim would expect that to happen. So him saying he'd be with her was really hypocritical and a dick move in my opinion. I wiped the condensation off the mirror in the bathroom, and let out a horrified sob at my reflection.

My lip was cut and bruised, turning a dark purple and my left eye had started to bruise also. I raised a finger to touch the bruises, but even the tiniest pressure would sting like nothing else. It took me twenty minutes to brush my long, brown hair because of the scratches on my scalp. Luckily it didn't look like Stephanie had managed to pull any out, so I saw that as a silver lining.

I exited the bathroom into the main dorm, wrapped up in a towel. I couldn't see Uhura or Gaila anywhere, and I let out a breath that I didn't realise I was holding. I looked at the time on our clock, mounted on the far wall. It was 15:26. Classes would be ending soon. I sat on the edge of my bed, and after a moment's thought, I decided that I didn't want to be here when they got back. So I pulled on my civilian clothes, my skinny blue jeans taking a good amount of effort to get into, and exited the dorm with a pair of sunglasses on my face to hide my eye.

Leaving the campus, I felt a massive weight lift off my shoulders. I walked all around San Francisco, watching other people and enjoying the hustle and bustle of the busy city. I'd been walking around for hours when I decided to go for a drink. It was seven in the evening, and I didn't bother looking for a nice place to drink, instead diving into the first bar I saw.

I took another sip of my Budweiser, ignoring the sting of my cut lip. Letting out a sigh, I frowned as I saw someone sit on the barstool next to me. I thought that it was odd, considering just how many seats were available at the bar, but I let it go when I turned to see Jim Kirk, beaming at me.

"Drinking alone, Alex? Didn't have you down as a lone drinker," he said quietly to me as he raised his hand, getting the bartender's attention. "Whiskey, please. Any kind." He asked, the bartender nodding at his request. I didn't reply to him, instead taking a large gulp of my beer. He was wearing his civilian clothes too. I recognised the black leather jacket he was wearing from the same night that I first met him.

"Oh, come on, Alex. I'm worried about you," he pleaded before handing over some credits to the bartender. After a minute or two's silence, he finally spoke again. "I'm sorry, Alex." I turned to face him, emotionless. His eyes faltered at the sight of my horrific bruises, his hand reaching up to brush a stray strand of hair out of my face. I shrugged, turning away from him and taking another sip of my beer. He let his hand drop, picking up his glass of whiskey instead.

"She finished with me," he mumbled, taking a small sip. I turned to him, raising an eyebrow to make him elaborate. He sighed. "I stuck up for you, Al', told her she was out of line for doing what she did. She did it for me, dumped me herself."

"Are you okay?" I asked him, and he let out a laugh, shaking his head slightly.

"You've just been attacked, and you're asking me if I'm okay?" I felt that his question was rhetorical as he continued to laugh. I let a ghost of a smile creep onto my face - I couldn't smile too much or it would hurt. "Well to answer your question," he calmed down, looking at me in the eye. "I'm fine, as long as you are. I'm sorry, Alex."

I let a grin creep onto my face, ignoring how much it stung. "You're forgiven, Jim. God, you really know how to pick 'em." I took another swig of my beer as he reached and put his arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer playfully.

"I ended up with you, didn't I?" He questioned before giving me a tight squeeze, then letting me go. I tilted my head in thought.

"I guess you did."

* * *

"Oh my God," I breathed, as suddenly the sight of completely obliterated Federation ships and debris floated around in front of the Enterprise came into view through the large window at the front of the bridge.

"Emergency evasive!" Captain Pike ordered, as the entire bridge sprung into action. Spock returned to his station inthe collective effort of trying to protect the Enterprise from picking up any damage. There was a loud crash as we bumped into a large piece of debris sending Jim and I tumbling to the left, holding onto that rail for dear life. His right arm shot out to steady me as I regained my footing.

"Damage report!" Pike shouted.

"Deflector shields are holding!" Someone replied, as the loud rumbling continued.

"All stations! Engineer Olson, report!" The ship turned onto its right side to get through a tight gap between the remnants of what I believed was the USS Farragut, the artificial gravity keeping us on our feet. Although, we still ended up stumbling around. I spotted a large bit of debris from the main dish of a ship, swallowing hard at the daunting size of it. I turned to Jim, sending him a look of worry. He mouthed "it's okay," at me, sending his best attempt of a smile, although it looked to be more like a grimace.

"Full reverse. Come about starboard ninety degrees. Drop us down underneath them, Sulu." The Captain steadily ordered. The ship did just that, a loud scraping noise coming from the back of the ship where we just clipped the debris. I took a deep breath as a strange looking ship came into view, standing out against the yellow haze of Vulcan. It almost looked like a sea creature, spikes branching off like thousands blades from the front of the ship. I marvelled at its size, and how scary it looked.

Sensors started to beep and I shut my eyes as I realised that we, like all the other ships, were going to be destroyed and killed. I felt my heart drop when Spock shouted over the commotion.

"Captain, they're locking torpedoes."

"Divert auxilary power from port nacelles to forward shields." The Captain replied. Torpedoes whizzed past the Enterprise as we turned, but I knew it was only a matter of time before they hit us if they had the advanced weaponry like Jim had said earlier. There was a rumble throughout the whole ship as one of their missiles made contact. "Sulu, status report."

"Shields at thirty-two percent. Their weapons are powerful, Sir, we can't take another hit like that." Sulu, the Helmsman replied.

"Get me Starfleet Command," Captain Pike replied. Spock spun around in his chair from his station, addressing the Captain.

"Captain, the Romulan ship has lowered some kind of high-energy pulse device into the into the Vulcan atmosphere. Its signal appears to be blocking our communications and transportation abilities," I turned to Spock's station, stumbling over and taking in his sensor readings. I reached over him, much to his dismay and tapped a few buttons, getting a closer look with an external camera on the ship at the device he was talking about.

"All power to forward shields, prepare to fire all weapons." Captain Pike ordered.

"It looks like they're using it as a drill, to drill into the planet's surface," I muttered.

"Captain, we're being hailed," Uhura called as she rose from her station. I turned back to Jim and made my way over to him, waiting to see why the Romulans had destroyed six Starfleet ships.

"Hello," the ship's captain came into view, dark, tribal looking marks on his skin and dark eyes made him look frightening. The bridge fell into silence as Captain Pike took a deep breath.

"I'm Captain Christopher Pike. To whom am I speaking?" He replied, his tone sharp.

"Hello Christopher," the Romulan nodded. "I'm Nero."

"You've declared war against the Federation. Withdraw, I'll agree to arrange a conference with Romulan leadership at a neutral location," Captain Pike said.

"I do not speak for the Empire," Nero slowly said, his voice echoing loudly all around us. "We stand apart. As does your Vulcan crew member. Isn't that right, Spock?" Everyone's eyes fell on Spock as he stood from his station, making his way over to the Captain, his eyes not leaving Nero.

"Pardon me, I do not believe that you and I acquainted." He calmly spoke. Jim eyed Spock warily as he took a few steps closer.

"No, we're not. Not yet," Nero replied, his lips forming a straight line. "Spock, there is something I would like you to see. Captain Pike, your transporter has been disabled. As you can see by the rest of your armada, you have no choice. You will man a shuttle and come onboard the Narada for negotiations. That is all," he ended the hail, his words still playing in everyone's heads. We all turned to the Captain, waiting for his response. He slowly rose from his chair.

"He'll kill you, you know that."

"Your survival is unlikely." Jim and Spock spoke to him at the same time, causing Captain Pike to turn to them, his face expressionless.

"Captain, we gain nothing from diplomacy. Going over to that ship is a mistake." Jim continued. Spock didn't miss a beat.

"I, too, agree. You should rethink your strategy."

"I understand that," Pike replied, turning to the rest of the bridge. "I need officers who have been trained in hand-to-hand combat." Sulu, the helmsman spoke, raising his hand.

"I have training, Sir."

Pike smiled slightly. "Come with me," Pike turned to face Jim and I. "Astrophysicist?" He asked me.

"Cadet Hart," I confirmed with a nod.

"You're coming as well. Kirk, you, too. You're not supposed to be here anyway. Chekov, you have the conn." Captain Pike ordered us as we followed him out of the Bridge and down to the nearest shuttlebay.

Jim walked beside me, just behind the Captain who was walking next to Spock. Sulu followed just behind us. I was completely on edge as to what our task was going to be, but being with Jim put me at ease, and I knew that my presence would probably do the same for him.

"Without transporters, we can't beam off the ship, we can't assist Vulcan, we can't do our job." Pike began to explain as we turned through a door that lead us to the shuttlebay on deck thirteen. Walking through, engineers in red shirts and dresses darted out of our way as we continued our journey. "Miss. Hart, Mr. Kirk, Mr. Sulu, Engineer Olson will space-jump from the shuttle," he continued as Jim and eye made eye contact. I was pretty sure I looked like a deer in headlights. "You will land on that machine they've lowered into the atmosphere that's scrambling our gear. You'll get inside, you'll disable it, then you'll beam back to the ship. Hart," he called to me over his shoulder.

"Yes, Sir?" I responded, trying my best not to sound absolutely petrified.

"You're to find out what it's doing to the planet. Mr. Spock," he turned to the Commander walking just a step behind him. "I'm leaving you in command of the Enterprise. Once we have transport capability and communications back up, you'll contact Starfleet and report what the hell's going on here," he slowed to a stop in front of the lift that would take us to the shuttlebay, turning to face the four of us. "And if all else fails, fall back and rendezvous with the fleet back in the Laurentian system. Kirk, I'm promoting you to first officer. Hart, you're my new deputy Science Officer."

"What?" Jim and I stated in unison, as Spock spoke out in protest.

"Captain. Please, I apologise, the complexities of human pranks escape me." I held in a giggle but couldn't stop the smile from creeping onto my face.

"It's not a prank, Spock. And I'm not the Captain, you are." He let an amused smile flutter onto his face, turning to the rest of us. "Let's go." Jim and Spock shared a look as Sulu and I followed Pike into the lift. Jim followed us in, sending a small smile my way before turning to Pike.

"Sir, after we knock out the drill, what happens to you?" Jim asked, and I frowned. That point had never occurred to me.

"Well, I guess you'll have to come and get me," Pike replied, looking up to Spock who was still stood where we had previously stopped, a bewildered look on his face. "Be careful with the ship, Spock, she's brand new." I grinned as Spock raised an eyebrow and nodded, the doors to the lift whooshing shut.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys, sorry it's been a while. I've had a lot going on at the moment and really struggled to write this chapter. I hope you like it, sorry if it's a bit shitty. I actually rewrote it several times! Anyways, I hope this chapter is enjoyable.**

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Trying not to let my thoughts run away with me, I changed into my space-jumping gear. I'd gotten out of my blue regulation dress, and into a skin-tight long sleeved black top, and some thick black leggings. I had let my hair down from its braided bun it was in earlier, so a single braid hung down my back. I tucked some stray stands of brown hair behind my ears, trying to calm myself down. Sure, I'd jumped out of a shuttle before, but we had a bigger target to land in. In this case, we had to land on a small sized platform, just above the roaring stream of fire and flames below it, drilling into Vulcan's surface. What could go wrong, hey?

I pulled on my blue jumpsuit, which was a bit too tight for my liking. There was padding around the torso, shoulders, elbows and knees, making me feel a bit more at ease. Once I zipped it up, I pulled my parachute pack onto my back, and fastened my utility belt with my Phaser around my waist, securing the buckles and straps with a satisfying click. Pike was getting the shuttle ready, the others getting changed like me. My brain started to ask itself lots of 'what if' questions, and I panicked when I couldn't think of the answers to any of them. It was as if all my Starfleet training had just merrily taken a hike. I let out an audible sigh and groan as I brushed the thoughts away, focusing on getting enough courage to walk out of the engineer's office where Pike had told me to change, giving me some privacy from the others.

After a moment's hesitation, I scooped up my helmet and opened the office door, stepping out into the shuttle bay to see Jim, Sulu and Olson checking each other's equipment. Jim looked up from where he was giving Sulu's parachute a once over, his face lighting up at the sight of me.

"Looking good, Alex," he gave Sulu's shoulder a reassuring pat, before striding over to me. He wore the same colour jumpsuit as me, his looking a lot better than mine. I smiled tentatively up at him as I adjusted my grip on my helmet underneath my left arm. As he reached me he put his hands on my shoulders, pushing me around to check my parachute. I felt his gloved fingertips brush over the small of my back as he checked all the necessary buckles and straps. I tried not to jump at the feel of his touch, or let him see that I was shaking with nerves. "Okay, all set," he said, spinning me back round to face him.

"I'm not going to die, am I?" I blurted out, immediately regretting it. I let a grimace creep onto my face as his eyes flashed with concern, before sending me a charming smile.

"I'll look after you. I promise," his right hand reached up, cupping my cheek as he looked into my eyes. After a moment, I nodded, trying to ignore the butterflies flapping around in my stomach. "Now come on, we're running out of time."

We darted towards Shuttle 89, Olson leading us in, Jim and I following and Sulu bringing up the rear. Pike followed us on as he took a seat in the cockpit, pressing various buttons and pulling levers. We took our seats, the empty shuttle was slightly haunting; I was used to seeing these things jam packed with other cadets and passengers. The sound of the engines firing up and roaring through the cabin was enough to bring me out of my thoughts, as we swayed from side to side as the docks were removed, Pike taking us carefully into the air.

"You've got the charges, right?" Jim turned to ask Olson who was sitting to his right.

"Oh, yeah. I can't wait to kick some Romulan arse. Right?" He replied, his eyes lit up like a kid on Christmas morning. Jim looked speechless, nodding his head, agreeing with him.

"Yeah."

"Hell yeah." Jim looked down at me as I was trying not to let a bemused grin break my composure. He let a ghost of a smile flash onto his pink lips, breaking eye contact with me before it could turn into a full one. I looked out of the window opposite me, seeing the walls of the shuttlebay disappear, the blackness of space tinted with the yellow hue of Vulcan taking its place. My stomach churned at the realisation that there was no going back now. I physically shook my head trying to shake the thoughts away, turning to Sulu.

"So, Sulu," I asked, his warm brown eyes finding mine. "What combat training do you have?"

"Fencing." He said, a tinge of worry and doubt on his face as the cabin rumbled a little. I let my jaw drop a little, and I could sense that it got Jim's attention too as Sulu's eyes flickered up to meet his.

"Well, that's better than Jim's extensive training in bar brawls," I sent a reassuring smile at him, although I'm pretty sure my nervous, unsure tone didn't match it.

"Pre-jump," Pike called to us. We all stood up from our seats, pulling our helmets on and securing them with a soft click. My heart was thumping in my chest as I tried to keep my breathing at a slow and steady rhythm. The door to the cockpit shut with a clunk, and what we were about to do suddenly became very real to me.

"Gentlemen, Hart, we're approaching the drop zone. We have one shot to land on that platform," Pike's calm voice played over the comlink, into our helmets and the cabin around us. We took a few steps into the middle of the shuttle, handles springing down from the ceiling of the shuttle. Without trying to think too much about it, I reached up and grabbed mine, sending one last wide-eyed look at Jim. "They may have defences, so pull your chute as late as possible." I tried to think about what step came next. Pike answered that for me as he counted down from three, changing the gravity in the cabin so we were now above the doors of the shuttle. Beyond those doors, was space. I gulped, trying to keep my heart from exploding out of my chest. "Remember, the Enterprise won't be able to beam you back until you turn off that drill. Good luck."

The doors sprung open, and within seconds we were flying, or falling through space. I could feel my chest constricting from the pressure and g-force we were pulling, my lungs working overtime to keep a steady flow of oxygen entering my body. I listened, hearing nothing but the sound of my own breathing and the eerie silence of space.

My eyes flickered around, and I could make out Jim's blue jumpsuit just a few metres away from me. Olson was below me, and I figured Sulu was somewhere behind me. I began to see the yellow haze of Vulcan, a welcoming sight to me. As we reached our terminal velocity I began to feel the strain through all of my muscles, from my fingers to my toes.

The gentle sound of air whooshing around me only got louder and louder, enough to signify that we had entered Vulcan's upper atmosphere. I could make out the looming shapes of the drill, the dark, rusty metal jaunted and bent into strange shapes. It looked out of place in the innocent glow of Vulcan. It was nearly within touching distance, its presence looming in my peripheral vision.

"Kirk to Enterprise. Distance to target, five-thousand metres." Jim's strained voice rang in my ears, smiling at the sound of it. We were getting dangerously close to the drill now, it's smaller platforms rushing past us at an alarming rate. I fought hard to keep my streamlined form against the furious speed we were falling at.

"Forty-five hundred metres from target!" Sulu spoke. My breathing started to increase to help fuel my burning muscles.

"Four-thousand metres."

"Three-thousand metres." I spoke.

"Two-thousand metres."

"Pulling chute!" Sulu exclaimed, Jim and I not taking long to follow him. There was a beep in my ear as the chute unfolded, the restraints and straps pulling and tugging hard at my small body, making me grimace. It felt much better to be travelling at a more manageable speed, and I could make out Jim a few metres below me. My eyes squinted however at the red suit of Olson, who was still going for it. We all seemed to spot him, Jim groaning over the comlink.

"Come on, pull your chute, Olson!"

"No, not yet! Not yet! One-thousand-five hundred metres!" He excitedly replied. We, however, were not excited. All of us chiming in through the comlink.

"Pull your chute, dammit!" I nearly screamed as he was whooping and cheering, getting closer and closer to the platform.

"One-thousand metres!" He called, pulling his chute. It was too late. He collided at a great speed into the platform, skidding along it with groans and cries we heard over the comlink. His red parachute was sucked underneath the platform into the burning flames beneath it. With a bloodcurdling scream, he was sucked under, the screams cut short.

"Holy shit," I breathlessly said, my heart plummeting. Olson had gone. Jim's parachute beneath me turned and swayed in the wind, as he tried to refocus on landing on the precarious platform. I silently willed him on, as I was approaching, closer and closer. Much like Olson, he crashed onto the platform, rolling along it as he tried to grab something with an outstretched hand. I felt my heart stop at the sudden realisation that Jim could die too. I watched wide eyed, as just metres from the edge, he managed to grab onto something. I wanted to cry in celebration, but my celebrations were cut short as I realised I was metres from the platform.

Springing into action, I pulled down as hard as I could on my steering ropes, trying to drop any momentum I carried. I nearly had my eyes shut in fear as I felt my feet make contact with the platform's surface. The familiar feel of gravity didn't last long though as by legs began scurrying around due to the turbulent air ruffling my parachute and pulling me in all sorts of directions. My eyes looked at the precarious edge of the platform, feeling sick at the thought of ending up like Olson. I needed to act, or I'd be over the edge of that platform in no time. Panicking, I frantically reached up and pressed the button on my chest to wind the parachute back in. As it was sucked back into my pack, I fell to my knees, pulling off my helmet and taking in a few deep breaths of oxygen. I couldn't believe I had done it!

The satisfaction didn't last long though as Jim brought me out of my thoughts.

"Alex, behind you!" He yelled, standing up from his crouched position on the floor. I turned around as I rose to my feet, dropping my helmet to the metal floor of the platform. Apparently, I had failed to notice a trap door opening behind me, as I was now making eye contact with a _very_ pissed of Romulan. Before either of us could do anything, however, Jim charged past me, grappling with the Romulan as he was midway through drawing his gun. With a frightening buzz, the gun started firing. Hearing a cry, I followed the shots and saw Sulu's parachute getting ripped apart.

"Jim, you're shooting Sulu!" I cried, as I watched Sulu struggle to line up a clean landing, ignoring the grunts of Jim as his phaser got knocked clean out of his hand, and straight off the platform. I turned back to Jim, who had resorted to whacking the disgruntled Romulan with his helmet, and gulped at the sight of another Romulan coming out of the door. He warily eyed Jim and his friend, and Sulu who was seconds away from landing. Feeling a sudden rush of adrenaline through my body, I charged, much like Jim, towards him, and before he could even lay eyes on me I was tackling him to the ground.

With a heavy thud, we landed, the impact shooting through my body. I hurriedly reached for my Phaser. The Romulan groaned, though he didn't appear to be that hurt as before I knew it his large fist was wrapped around my wrist, yanking and squeezing hard. My eyes darted to meet his as I tried my hardest not to cry out in pain. I knew it was a matter of seconds before he broke any bones. With my free but weaker hand, I started to punch him wherever I could. Delivering blow after blow, I was satisfied when I saw a small stream of green blood trickle from his nose.

The Romulan let out a glutteral cry as he swung upwards, landing a hefty blow to the side of my face. I felt pain shoot through my body at the hit, all the way down to my toes, as for a few seconds I was disorientated. With this he landed another blow, striking upwards and catching the bottom of my jaw. I felt a harsh sting as my brain went blank for a few seconds, the momentum of his swing sending me backwards and stumbling off him. I felt most of the pain dissipate with each shaky breath I took as I forced my self so scramble to a crouch. I subtly felt down my side for my Phaser, nearly crying at the familiar feel of it. I eyed him standing to his full height, Jim and the other Romulan still brawling behind me. I let out a deep breath as I rose to my full height also, pulling up my hands that were balled into fists.

He snarled before taking one step toward me, and that was all I needed. I reached for my Phaser at lightning speed, raising, aiming, then firing twice. He fell backwards, landing with a clang that rumbled through the metal platform. I breathed a sigh of relief, my attention turned toward the yellow blur of Sulu, who was using his fencing skills fighting his own battle with a Romulan. He seemingly had the upper hand, but a gargled cry that I recognised as Jim broke me out of my trance.

His opponent had hoisted Jim up in the air, and threw him over his shoulders so Jim landed on the platform with a painful thwack. Jim groaned in pain as the Romulan was about to deliver a swift kick to Jim's torso as he writhed around in pain.

"Hey, sunshine!" I called raising my Phaser, getting the Romulan's attention. But before I could even pull the trigger he leapt towards me with lightning speed, knocking the weapon out of my hands. He swung for me with his right hand, but I ducked, ducking again as he swung like a bear with his left hand. But he predicted my movement, bringing a knee up to my head which sent me stumbling backwards, dazed.

Jim had recovered, jumping onto the Romulan's back as I blinked furiously to try and get my vision back to normal. With a frustrated groan the Romulan shook him off with a single movement, Jim loosing his footing and stumbling on the floor. The Romulan began his onslaught on Jim, kicking him in the back and chest, sending him rolling to the edge of the platform until he rolled off it, now holding on to the edge with two hands, which I could make out just between the Romulan's legs from where I was crouched. With the clanging of metal swords ringing in my ears, I rose to my feet. My muscles protested but there was no way was Jim Kirk falling off that platform.

The Romulan began to stamp furiously at Jim's hands, Jim barely managing to move them out of the way on time. It was long however before a booted foot came crashing down on his knuckles with a frightening crunch. I stumbled towards them, knowing that I didn't have much time left. I heard a deafening yell to my right, but blocked it out. I had to save Jim. With a tap on the Romulan's shoulder, he turned around, confused. Smiling sweetly at him, I brought my right leg up between his, kicking him with all my power in his crown jewels. His hands shot out to keep ahold of my leg, but he doubled over in pain nonetheless, a groan escaping his lips. I hopped on the one leg I had left to keep my balance, knowing that this was the only chance I had left.

With one final hop I sprung upwards, lifting my left leg up as high as I could. My foot made contact with the Romulan's jaw with a satisfying crack, his grip on my leg instantly loosening. I crashed down onto my front, the Romulan falling backwards off the platform, knocked out cold. I wasted no time in crawling over to where Jim was hanging precariously, only one hand holding on for dear life. I let a grin creep onto my face as he looked at me wide-eyed.

"How's it hanging?" I asked reaching down, a wave of relief washing over me as Sulu joined my side in helping Jim up onto the platform. We stood for a moment, all catching our breath.

"Olson had the charges," Sulu said loudly over the noise of the flames beneath us. I let out a huff, shaking my head.

"I know," Jim replied looking just as disappointed as me, but he took no time in running over to where one of the Romulan's guns were left on the platform. Sulu joined him as I took a few steps closer to the edge, peering over at the giant hole that was now in Vulcan. I looked upward at the structure, that went on for miles. From where I was stood, you couldn't even see the Romulan ship. I gulped, looking at the tiny monitor on my left wrist, programmed to give me details on the structure of Vulcan. It would work when the drill was disabled. I heard the sounds of guns charging as Jim and Sulu fired into the main structure of the drill, sparks and bangs ripping through the atmosphere. With just a few shots, the rumbling beneath us spluttered until the flames ceased completely.

"It worked, guys, my sensor readings are coming through," I called to them, looking down at my monitor at the readings. I frowned when I came to the realisation that the drill had reached the planet's core. These were readings that I had never seen before, but I forgot about them as there was a loud bang from above us. All three of us looked upwards to see a metal object spinning downwards, missing the drill structure that we were on by just metres. We rushed to the edge to see it plummeting into the hole beneath us. I looked at my sensor readings, and gulped. This wasn't good.

"Kirk to Enterprise," Jim spoke through the comlink that was now working, chucking the Romulan gun he hand in his hands to the side. "They just launched something at the planet through the hole they just drilled. Do you copy, Enterprise?"

"Oh my God," I breathed, Jim and Sulu's eyes darting to me. "They're creating something that's going to consume the whole planet. Vulcan has minutes left!" I cried. "Hart to Enterprise. Vulcan has minutes left, that thing they just launched is going to destroy the planet by consuming it."

"Copy that, we are alerting the Captain now," a crewman replied. I sent a worried look to Jim as I started to gnaw the inside of my cheek.

"We need to get off this planet," I muttered above the noise. Jim silently agreed, nodding. He walked towards the centre of the platform as he rose his arm to speak into the comlink once again.

"Kirk to Enterprise! Beam us out of here!" He nearly yelled. We didn't hear the reply however, as the whole structure shook and rumbled beneath us. They were retracting the drill. I heard a surprised yelp from behind me, whipping my head around to see Sulu tipping over the edge of the shaking platform. I instinctively reached out and grabbed his flailing arm, locking it around his wrist, his gloved fingers locking around mine, but his momentum was too much. It sent me toppling over too.

"Jim!" I yelled as he looked up, shock and despair all over his face. I didn't hear him call my name back as Sulu and I toppled over the edge and began to free-fall at a frightening speed. My heart began to pound. The wind was tearing at my eyes and it was hard to breathe. I felt Sulu pull me closer with the remaining strength he had left until my back was meeting his chest. His arms wrapped around me one after the other. At least if we died, then we would be together.

We began to spin uncontrollably, my stomach literally doing flips and turns. I began to think of Earth, and what it was like back home. I began to think of my father. But those thoughts flew out of my head as on one turn I made out Jim Kirk, falling toward us. My eyes widened in what was either fear or relief when I saw just how fast he was rocketing toward us. I felt my muscles tense, bracing for his impact.

"Hold on!" He cried as he crashed into me, my chest and ribs protesting in pain. He held onto Sulu, sandwiching me tightly in the middle. We continued to spin as my hands clung onto his arms. "Pull my chute!" He cried. I didn't need to be told twice as I thumped on the release button. The chute flew out of the pack with a violent flourish, but it couldn't take all of our weight, the ropes snapping under the strain. I could hear Sulu's strained breaths in my ear as I rested my head on Jim's chest, accepting my fate. I squeezed where I was holding his arms tighter. At least if I died, then I'd be with my best friend.

"Kirk to Enterprise! We're falling without a chute! Beam us up!" He yelled down the comlink, almost pleading when he repeated 'Beam us up!' several times. I couldn't take it. I tried my best to block out his frenzied crying and the sound of air whipping around us, shutting my eyes and concentrating on my strained breathing. I began to feel the pain from the space-jump and the fighting earlier seep through all the bones and muscles in my body, making it hard to find the will to hold onto Jim and Sulu anymore.

I began to hear cracks and crumbles as pieces of Vulcan's surface began to fall apart. I tried to block that out as well, doing my best to think of Earth and my home in my final moments. Jim and Sulu began to yell, their grips becoming tighter and tighter, my eyes shutting tighter in response.

It was only when the sound of complete destruction disappeared and we landed hard on solid ground that I realised we had been beamed successfully back up to the Enterprise.

Sulu rolled off from where he had landed on top of Jim and I, letting out a groan in relief. I was laying on top of Jim, my arms resting on his shoulders, his wrapped around me and holding me tight. My whole body felt battered. I lifted my head up, the muscles in my neck and back protesting, to look at Jim. He was looking back at me, his eyes moving all around my face. I wasn't quite sure what he was thinking, but he let out a sigh as I rested my forehead on his, relieved that we had made it back safely.

"Thank you," I whispered breathlessly, closing my eyes and bringing my hands up to cup his face.. Jim gave me a quick squeeze.

"I keep my promises," he replied. I let out an amused hum, but our moment of relief was cut short, Spock storming in to the transporter room, clipping a utility belt around his waist. I moved from my position, every bone in my body protesting.

"Clear the pad. I'm beaming to the surface," he declared, taking position on the pad. I shared a bewildered look with Sulu as we rose to our feet, doing as he asked.

"Vulcan has minutes left, Spock, it's dangerous," I warned. Jim continued.

"What, are you going down there? Are you nuts?" Jim cried as Spock checked his Phaser was functioning. "Spock, you can't do that!"

Spock simply got down into a crouched position, bracing himself for what he was going to see on Vulcan, his home planet. My heart hurt for him at the sudden realisation that if that were Earth, I'd probably be doing the exact same thing. "Energise." Gold rings started to spin around him elegantly, and within seconds, he had gone. I felt Jim tense up beside me.

"Hey," I said quietly. "He knows what he's doing." I reached out for his elbow giving it a reassuring squeeze. He smiled shortly after shaking his head in disbelief.

"I hope so."


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey guys, sorry it's been so long. I've been busy with a lot of life stuff recently. I finished with my long term boyfriend a few weeks ago so that's been hard to deal with, and it's been my birthday as well. But here is another update, that I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 _Flashback_

The club music around us was pumping through my veins, the rhythm of the uptempo beat flowing through my body. My blood was red hot, the sticky air of the club causing a few droplets of sweat to form on the top of my forehead. The dance floor was packed, bodies shoulder to shoulder as everyone danced along to the DJ's set.

It was Halloween. All of San Francisco's clubs were booked out and full to their capacity, each patron sporting a costume. A fair majority of the club goers that night were from the Academy. Uhura and I were in one club, I didn't care to remember the name. She had booked us a VIP table with some of our friends with the aim to celebrate the holiday and as she put it, 'get wasted'.

I'd chosen to go as a pirate, wearing an 18th century military jacket in a royal blue, wearing underneath it a short, cream coloured dress. With this I wore some over-the-knee high-heeled boots, which made my legs look like they went on forever. Uhura had taken the task of curling my unruly and never ending brown locks. They had fallen out after a mere ten minutes after walking out of the Academy and hailing a cab, but they looked good hanging down from underneath a black pirate hat I had placed on my head. Uhura had also done my make up, smoking my eyes out with the darkest black eyeshadow she owned, leaving my lips a nude colour.

Uhura herself looked stunning as Catwoman, a full-sleeved, black leather jumpsuit hugging her body in all the right places, and a mask with cat ears on top hid half of her face. As we stood in the mirror in our dorm room, she let out a satisfied sigh before dragging me out of the door and into the night.

The first thing we did upon entering the bustling club was head to the bar, ordering three shots of Jack each and drinking them one after the other. I let out a hiss as Uhura handed over credits to the bartender, sending me an amused smile. The shots had gone straight to my head.

"It's going to be one of those nights," I called to her over the top of the noise, reaching out to grab her gloved hand. She laughed loudly as we weaved our way through the dance floor to our fellow cadets in the VIP section. An hour or two passed, full of laughs, dancing, and drinking very expensive vodka and champagne that kept on coming. The alcohol seeped into my brain, my inhibitions dissipating as the night progressed. I looked out onto the large dance floor, skeletons, zombies, witches, wolves and a few cheerleaders to name a few, all jumping around to the music. I so badly wanted to join them, and was about to drunkenly declare we should all join the dancing, before I heard my name being called from behind me.

"Alex!" I spun around, my eyes squinting through the dim light to make out the source of my name. My eyes flickered around before landing on a pair of eyes that I would recognise anywhere. Jim Kirk, or should I say, vampire Jim Kirk waved to me. He was stood at the bottom of the stairs to the entrance of the VIP area, leaning on the rail as if he owned the place.

He held his hands out towards me, gesturing me to come closer. I nodded, telling everyone I'd be back in a second. I let a lazy grin settle on my face as I examined his costume. He hadn't really made much effort, with a simple white t-shirt, splattered in fake blood and a pair of dark fitted jeans. The fake blood was splattered all over his neck and around his mouth - as he grinned I discovered he had stuck in some fake fangs to make the costume more realistic. I never wanted to admit it, but he looked pretty hot that night.

"I don't think I should come any closer," I said, just loud enough for him to hear me over the music. "Don't want to get bitten," I explained, waving a hand at the fake blood all over him. He laughed.

"Who knows, you might enjoy it, Al'," he slurred, raising his eyebrows suggestively. "So far everyone else has."

"That's disgusting. And you're drunk," I scowled back at him playfully. He shook his head, dismissing my scorn with a wave of one of his blood covered hands.

"You're drunker." I let out a 'pfft' in response, rolling my eyes.

"Anyway, I was going to ask you if you wanted to dance with me," he began, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder before snapping his attention back to me. "Bones left me. He wasn't enjoying being a mummy," I tilted my head, inviting him to elaborate.

"I wrapped him up in all of his bandages from this first aid kit he had lying around. I left him for five minutes at the bar, came back, he was gone," he exclaimed as I giggled.

"Oh, come on then. I don't want to leave you alone on one of the scariest nights of the year," I winked as I sashayed down the stairs and past him and onto the floor. I turned to face him, walking backwards and sending him a somewhat sexy smirk. This newfound confidence that I had was definitely from the large intake of alcohol that was in my system, but Jim smirked back, following me.

I began to dance then, letting the music take full control over my body movements. Jim danced close to me, occasionally his hands brushing my waist or the top of my thighs. We both had smiles on our faces, and for a while it felt like Jim and I were the only people in the club. It was when the song changed to a slower and more intense tempo Jim slipped his hand around my waist, pulling me closer, his mouth to my ear.

"You look so good tonight, Alex," his hot breath tickled my neck as I raised my hand to touch my hat, but I discovered that it was gone after what must've been an hour of dancing with Jim. I gulped as I realised his hand didn't move, and instead pulled me a lot closer to his warm body. His mouth remained at my ear as his breath continued to fan over my neck, sending goosebumps all over my body. He swayed us to the music as I let the alcohol take control. I raised both of my hands to his shoulders, running my palms over his chest and up to his neck, ignoring the stickiness of the fake blood.

My heart began to thump ten times the beat of the music in alarm at what Jim and I were doing, swallowing hard when Jim let a deep groan escape his lips. I frightened myself when my hands, which were now in his hair, tugged, clenching harder. Slowly, Jim pulled his head back, his eyes meeting mine, glinting with _something._ Before I could stop myself my eyes dropped downwards, taking in the sight of his pink lips, droplets of fake blood surrounding them. They moved, to form a smirk as my eyes darted back up to meet his, his other hand coming up to hold my cheek. I marvelled at how my skin burned at his touch. He began to lean closer to me, his blue orbs flickering down to my glossy lips. I gravitated towards him, pausing as our lips were just a centimetre apart. Our breaths merged into one as he looked into my eyes, sort of asking for my permission. I granted it to him, letting my eyes flutter closed and leaning forwards ever so slightly.

The sensation of Jim's soft lips pressing onto mine was enough to make every nerve in my body tingle. After a second or two, he pulled me closer, the kiss taking a more passionate turn. But it hadn't even been five seconds before we were split apart. Someone next to us on the dance floor had stumbled due to their drunken state, crashing into Jim and I, breaking us free from each other's embrace. The skeleton staggered back up to his feet, making sure he shouted an apology to the both of us. The song in the club changed and I suddenly felt the shock of what had just happened wash over me, my eyes widening significantly as I made eye contact with Jim. His friendly and amused gaze turned into a worried one as he took in my expression, taking a step closer to me.

"Are you okay, Alex?" He asked, bending down to my level. I bit my lip, nodding.

"I should probably go and find Uhura, she'll be wondering where I am." He pondered for a second, seeming to be fighting an internal battle. After a few moments hesitation, he nodded.

"Okay, I'll see you later," he replied, but I span on my heel and walked back to the VIP area, not giving him a farewell. I was terrified - I'd just kissed one of my friends, who I had never been attracted to in the entire time I had known him. Sure, he was hot and all, but he was Jim Kirk, who as far as I was concerned, was definitely not my type. I shook my head, telling myself that it was an accident: I was drunk, I let the moment take over. I let out a sigh as I laid my eyes on a very drunk Uhura, who was dancing her heart out on top of one of the tables to an old school Beyonce track.

"Come on, Miss. Drunk in Love. Time to go home."

* * *

"I lost her."

I couldn't describe the look on Spock's face as he and his fellow Vulcans materialised onto the landing pad, without his mother. His hand was out stretched to where his mother would have been stood. Some would say that Spock looked emotionless, that he would cast you the same look after you'd just told him a hilarious joke. But his eyes betrayed him. From where I was standing next to the transporter controls, I could make out his pain and heartbreak.

The silence in the transporter room was deafening. None of us knew what to say. I felt a single tear roll down my left cheek, though I didn't dare move to wipe it away in case I disturbed the silence of the room, instead deciding to let the oncoming stream of salty tears fall without protest. With two steps, Spock stood where his mother would have, looking down at the spot, his confusion evident in his cold glare. He looked up as it finally dawned on him. His home had been destroyed, a part of his family with it. My heart ached as I remembered the pain I felt when I lost my father. My stomach twisted as the memories of Jim holding me for hours as I cried flashed through my mind.

We were carted off to the medical bay, not long after McCoy had joined us in the transporter room, inviting all the Vulcans to go along with us. Jim strode beside me, our arms brushing from time to time as we all walked in silence, our eyes glued to the floor. The other crew members simply moved out of the way for us as we made our way through the Enterprise, caution evident in their wary glances.

Jim and I exchanged a wide eyed look as we were each carted off into different areas of the medical bay. My heart began to beat faster at the sudden distance that was put between us. He turned around to face me as he sat up onto the biobed a few beds in front of mine, sending me a tight but reassuring smile. I let out a scoff in my head as I chastised myself for being so clingy. I put it down to being involved in a near death experience with him just a while earlier, and not wanting to risk losing him again.

McCoy saw to my injuries, scanning me over with a tricorder. I tried not to let out a groan as his fingers poked and prodded the multiple bruises forming on my body. My eyes watered at the pain and because of the empathy I felt for Spock. McCoy swallowed hard as he glanced upwards from his crouched position in front of me as he was scanning my ribs. I knew he wanted to say something, but he held his tongue, simply advising the nurse who was observing him what treatment I needed. I two bruises forming where I was hit in the face, a small cut remaining on my left jaw. My ribs were slightly bruised and my wrist would bruise also, but I was cleared of having any serious injuries.

I didn't wait for Jim as I rose from the biobed and headed to my shared quarters. I hurried through the bustling corridors of the Enterprise, deciding to take a quick shower as I entered my quarters. The warm water soothed the aching in my body as I washed off stubborn dirt and dust that was stuck to my body. I wished that I could stay under the steady stream of water for hours, but I hopped out after five minutes and wrapped a towel around my body. I didn't bother looking at my appearance in the mirror, knowing for sure I looked like hell. I made my way into my room and couldn't help but let out a surprised yelp as I saw Jim sat on the edge of my bed.

His eyes widened at the sight of me in a towel, his eyes examining every drop and rivet of water on my body. After a moment they settled on my face, and he shot me a smile, rising from where he was sat.

"You left your room door open," he explained, knowing immediately what I was thinking. Are you okay?" He almost whispered, his voice faltering as his eyes flickered down to my bruised jaw. I nodded, tugging my towel tighter around my body.

"Yeah. You?" He turned away from me, taking in the layout and set up of my small room. I hadn't had any time to set it up or unpack, but he found something interesting to look at as he mumbled a 'mhm'. I took in a sharp intake of breath after a few moments of silence, his head swinging back to me. "You mind turning around so I can change?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," he replied, flustered, a blush rising up his neck. I couldn't help but let out a wry smile as I let the towel drop to the floor with a thud.

"You nearly died, Alex," he breathlessly said in front of me.

" _We_ nearly died," I corrected, I quickly changed into a clean set of underwear and underclothes. I was in the process of pulling my blue regulation dress down my body when Jim turned around, his eyes filled with an emotion I couldn't decipher. Either way, it made my heart ache.

"I didn't look after you, like I said I would." Jim finally said. I rolled my eyes. "No, listen to me," he took a step closer to me, his body towering over my, still slightly damp one. "I don't know what I would have done if I lost you." I smiled at his words, but shook my head.

"You don't have to think about that, Jim. You saved mine and Sulu's life. You can't lose me that easily." He released a breath, his shoulders immediately looking less tense. "We look after each other, alright?" I brushed past him, seeking out my boots and pulling them on. I turned back to face Jim, only to be met with his chest as he engulfed me in a hug. His chin rested on top of my damp head, his hands wrapping around my back.

"I'll see you on the bridge," he exclaimed into my hair, before walking out of the room. I stood there in silence, the scent of him lingering around me. It was almost as if he was never there as I fought the feeling of loneliness wash over me. I shook myself out of it, deciding to brush my hair and get ready to head back to the bridge where I would be reporting as Deputy Science Officer.

* * *

The bridge doors opened with a swish, and I strode in confidently, sitting down at the unoccupied seat at the science station by Uhura. She sent a welcoming smile at me, as I sent one back, before looking wide eyed at Jim sat in the Captain's chair, deep in thought.

"Earth may be his next stop, but we have to assume every Federation planet is a target." He declared. I immediately caught on to what we were discussing - Nero, the Captain of the Romulan ship, the Narada, had Captain Pike. We wanted to know what his next move would be, and ultimately, decide on what the Enterprise's would be.

Spock turned his head at the sound of Jim's voice, choosing to discount his thought and simply chastise him. "Out of the chair." I let an amused grin grace my features, but it didn't last long as the bruises on my face began to throb. Jim let out a huff as he rose, walking to the right of the bridge.

"Well, if the Federation is a target, why didn't they destroy us?" Ensign Chekov stated from his station at the front of the bridge, all attention turning to him.

"Why would they? Why waste a weapon? We obviously weren't a threat." Sulu tagged on. Spock shook his head as he continued to wander around the bridge in thought.

"That is not it. He said he wanted me to see something, the destruction of my home planet." He came to a stop.

"How the hell did he do that, by the way? I mean, where did the Romulans get that kind of weaponry?" McCoy asked, his southern drawl echoing around the bridge.

"The engineering comprehension necessary to artificially create a black hole may suggest an answer." Spock replied. I stood up from my station.

"Artificially creating a black hole? We're talking years and years of research. That's ahead of our time." I chipped in. "Wait, time. Space is time." I felt everyone's eyes on me as hundreds of thoughts and ideas racked through my brain.

"If you had that kind of equipment, technology... comprehension, there's a possibility that a hole through space-time could be created." I tried to explain.

"Damn it, Hart, I'm a doctor, not a physicist. Are you actually suggesting they're from the future?" McCoy asked incredulously as I tried not to laugh at his outrage.

"Uh, yeah. I guess." I glanced to Uhura who sent me a reassuring wink.

"If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Lieutenant Hart is logical in her thinking." Spock answered McCoy, sending me a curt nod. McCoy rolled his eyes, dismissing Spock.

"How poetic." He exclaimed with a wave of his had as I silently sniggered.

"Then what would an angry, future Romulan want with Captain Pike?" Jim posed a very important question, causing me to frown in thought. He had a point.

"As Captain, he does know details of Starfleet's defences," Sulu suggested. Jim nodded, walking forwards toward Spock from his leaning position against one of the railings.

"What we need to do is catch up with that ship, disable it, take it over and get Pike back." Jim declared.

"We are technologically outmatched in every way. A rescue attempt would be illogical." Spock shot back. I found myself grinding my teeth as the tension in the room seemed to build.

"Nero's ship would have to drop out of warp for us to overtake them." Checkov added on. My heart fell as I worried for Captain Pike.

"Then what about assigning engineering crews to try and boost our warp yield?" Jim suggested, seeming to have an answer for everything.

"Remaining crew are being used to repair radiation leaks on all lower decks." Spock answered, continuing to explain his point. He seemed to have an answer for everything too. Jim let out a cry of frustration, as I raised a hand to rub my forehead as the two spoke over each other. This was much like what happened in the assembly hall a few hours earlier.

"We must gather with the rest of Starfleet to balance the terms of the next engagement." Spock declared once Jim had stopped talking, coming to stop in front of him.

"There won't be a next engagement. By the time we've gathered, it'll be too late." Jim replied. He did have a point. The Romulan drill had destroyed a significantly sized planet in a matter of minutes. Nobody knew how long it would take for them to destroy another, or wipe out the rest of Starfleet. "You say he's from the future, knows what's gonna happen? Then the logical thing is to be unpredictable."

"You are assuming that Nero knows how events are predicted to unfold. The contrary, Nero's very presence has altered the flow of history, beginning with the attack on the USS Kelvin, culminating in the events of today, thereby creating an entire new chain of incidents that cannot be anticipated by either party."

"He hit the nail on the head there," I mumbled under my breath as Uhura took a few steps forwards from where she stood.

"An alternate reality."

"Precisely. Whatever our lives might have been. if the time continuum was disrupted, our destinies have changed." Spock thought aloud as he made his way away from Jim and towards the Captain's chair. "Mr. Sulu, plot a course for the Laurentian system, warp factor three." Spock took his seat, and everyone else was about to as well, but Jim spoke up.

"Spock, don't do that," he groaned before raising his voice and coming to stand alongside Spock. "Running back to the rest of the fleet for a confab is a massive waste of time."

"These are the orders issued by Captain Pike when he left the ship." Spock calmly replied from his seat.

"He also ordered us to go back and get him." Jim fought back. "Spock, you are Captain now, you have to make-" Spock cut Jim off. I gulped.

"I am aware of my responsibilities, Mr. Kirk."

"Every second we waste, Nero's getting closer to his next target." Jim's voice was now very loud, and I could sense everyone on the bridge feeling uneasy about the scene that was playing out before them.

"That is correct, and why I'm instructing you to accept the fact that I alone am in command." A shouting match ensued, with Uhura, McCoy and I joining in and trying to diffuse the tension.

"Jim, calm down," I tried to reach his eyes, but they were fixed on Spock. He stood suddenly.

"Security, escort him out." Jim stared coldly at Spock, not breaking his gaze as two red shirted men stepped forward. I felt my heart break as Jim's eyes met mine for milliseconds before he was turned around by the security officers. They had an arm each of Jim's and were leading him away successfully, but it was only seconds before Jim fought back.

"Jim, stop!" I cried as he battled with the two of them, having the upper hand. I didn't notice Spock stride foward and place a hand on the base of Jim's neck and squeezing. Jim let out a sigh, and fell to the floor with a thud. We all stood there, speechless.

"Get him off this ship."


End file.
